Minato x Ophis snippets
by Angel of light darkness
Summary: wrote a couple omakes/snippets that shipped Minato from Persona 3 with Ophis from DxD. Figure I'd repost them from DaD Forum Omake section. Thinking of doing more
1. First Encounter

**Author's Note: First Written on August 17 / 2015**

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When Minato Arisato entered this new world… his arrival did not go completely unnoticed…

Two otherworldly beings noticed him…

The Great Red, the dragon of the apocalypse from the book of revelations who resides in the Dimensional Gap, saw Minato for a fraction of a second before he entered this new world.

And Ophis, the dragon of Infinity, sensed Minato's power as he entered this new world. She decided to go and investigate it herself.

Due to the unique nature of Minato's power, Ophis was able to get there quickly. She observed him while he slept on a park bench. It wasn't until he had awoken and summoned his Personas that Ophis decided she could use him to help her defeat The Great Red and take back her home, The Dimensional Gap.

Ophis decided to let the out-worlder, Minato, to adjust to this new world first before she recruited him.

After all, it's better to have a lackey with their head on straight then one that runs around like a clueless chicken.

She would check on Minato condition daily, since she rarely interacts with any of Khaos Brigade directly no one questioned where she went.

It was after a few weeks that she decided to approach Minato.

It was late at night as Ophis stood on one side of a zebra crossing (crosswalk), one that Minato took when he went home from work.

Ophis saw Minato approach from the other side of the zebra crossing (crosswalk), he was carrying a grocery bay while he wore his headphones listening to music.

Minato looked up at a traffic light to see it wasn't time to pass, he then directed his eyes to the other side of the zebra crossing (crosswalk) where his eyes met Ophis's.

When Ophis looked back into Minato's eyes, she first saw slight confusion that changed into a gaze that was examining her own, until it changed into something else in a flash. Something she had never seen before. Both Minato's and Ophis's eye contact was broken when a track pass by them on the road, when Minato could see the other side of the zebra crossing (crosswalk) again, Ophis was already gone.

It took Ophis a few minutes to comprehend what she saw in Minato's eyes in the end, she knew what it was but she had never experience it being directed at herself.

Understanding…

Ophis stayed away from Minato for a while as she began to come up with another method of recruiting him and trying to figure out way what he understood about her.

She was brought of her thoughts when she heard a newly reincarnated devil summoned an arch-demon during a Rating Game.

She went online to see a video of the rating game and when she saw it was Minato, that was the newly reincarnated devil, the anger that covered her was enough to make members of the Khaos Brigade to faint, soil themselves, break into a nervous sweat or all of thy above.

Ophis began to personally observe Minato closely (Cough stalking cough) until she was certain she would be able to speak to Minato in private.

During her time observing him, Ophis found out Minato had returned to being human.

Meaning he either reversed the devil's evil piece system's process or had tricked everyone into believing he had turned into a devil.

It was after he summoned Archangels and an embodiment of death to destroy Kokabiel and his Fallen Angels traitors, Ophis wouldn't admit it, but she too was taken aback when Thanatos literally ripped itself into existence, that she knew she needed to recruit Minato.

If anyone can give her a chance to get her home back, than why not one who has Archangels and Arch-demons at their command? It was for this reason Ophis decided she needed Minato for her own.

It was a few days after the battle with the fallen angels, Minato was walking home from school alone.

Seeing a chance, Ophis constructed a special barrier around Minato. Inside the barrier, time moved more quickly than the outside giving Ophis more time to talk with Minato.

Minato, sensing the barrier, began to look around his surroundings cautiously readying himself for a surprise attack.

Ophis stepped forward "greetings, Nephilim…"

Minato looked at her for a moment before his eyes widen slightly in remembering something "you're from before… Ouroboros"

Ophis was slightly surprise Minato knew her title, but didn't let it show "so, you know of me then. Good, this will be faster."

Minato's hand began to drift to his inner jacket pocket were he kept his evoker "what will?"

Ophis continued to smile "I have come to recruit for a group I have created, The Khaos Brigade"

Minato took out his evoker as he stared at Ophis "why are you creating this group? I doubt it has anything to do with the three factions, so why would the dragon who embodies infinite itself create an organisation to begin with?"

Ophis decided to dodge the question "that question is hardly important, now will you join me"

What Minato said next surprised Ophis "There's someone who wants to talk to you" he lift his evoker to his head and pulled the trigger.

A long serpent-like dragon with the tip of its tail in its mouth, with golden scales on its stomach and head and platinum scales on its back and wings appeared.

I am Thou, and Thou art I…

…I am the unending dragon who devoured their own body…

…I am the embodiment of infinite and eternity…

…I am Ouroboros…

…And I have come to greet my counterpart of this world.

Ophis looked at the Persona with a gapping look, she recognised the power emitting off of it as her own.

The dragon serpent leaned in closer "well, sister, why do you seek the aid of other when you yourself wield infinite power?" the dragon serpent straighten itself as it gazed down at her "what would motivate you to do it?"

Ophis was still in a state of shock and answered without realising it "to get back my home…"

Minato thought back to what he knew about this world's Ouroboros, ever since he was introduced to the supernatural side of thing of this world he had done some research about any of his persona's counterparts of this world.

This world's Ouroboros was considered the strongest and was born somewhere called the Dimensional Gap.

He didn't know what the Dimensional Gap was, only that it was were the apocalypse dragon that resides there.

The persona Ouroboros tilted their head "for that alone you would face the apocalypse dragon and possible doom this world?" persona Ouroboros glanced at Minato with its red eyes for a moment it continued "what claim an already ruin nest, clearly even if you defeated the apocalypse dragon the place of your creation will never be the same…" Ophis clenched her fist before Ouroboros continued "… so, I purpose an alternative" Ophis look at Ouroboros with a questioning gaze, while Minato had an idea of where this was going "a dragons home is wherever they decide it is, so why not make this world your new home. This is more than one place you can achieve the silence you seek" Ophis eyes widen slightly "though it wouldn't kill you to go out sometime" Ouroboros chuckled "you look like a NEET who hadn't seen the sun in years, sister" Ouroboros bowed its head at Minato "I leave my sister in your capable hands, Nephilim"

Ophis and Minato stood in silence for a moment before Ophis began to walk away "wait…" Minato called out, Ophis turned around to see Minato holding out an MP3 player that looked like his own with earphones plugged in "take this"

Ophis looked at him "why?"

Minato shrugged "doesn't hurt to try new thing and maybe music will give you an interest in this world" Minato handed Ophis the MP3 and earphones "it might even prove that you don't need silence all the time, besides…" Minato smiled "there are very few things in this world that are better at bringing people together and helping them understand themselves then music"

Ophis looked at the MP3 for a moment before nodding end leaving.

The barrier came down and Minato continued his walk home.

When Minato was unconscious during the battle at the peace conference, a shadowy snake snuck through the rubble until it reached Minato's neck. The snake made contacted with the top of the spine a glowed slightly, leaving an infinite symbol with a serpent design at the tip of Minato's neck underneath his hair.

Minato woke up with a startle, before he got up and joined everyone in the fight to defend the peace conference.

In another location…

Ophis looked through a magic circle to see that the serpent had marked Minato, with it Minato will never be turned into another being from an outside source.

He was perfect the way he was, and Ophis wouldn't allow any of the factions to change that.

She began to watch the battle as she listened to the MP3 player Minato had given her.

She enjoyed the songs on it called 'Memories of You' 'Soul Phase' and 'More than One Heart', she eventually decided to add another song she found online.

'When you hear the voice in your heart, you can be reborn infinite times "NEW - BORN"'

A ship's horn could be heard in the distance...

"everyone, I'm happy to announce the launch of the Minato X Ophis ship (Infinite Plus Love)


	2. New Roommate

**Author's Note: First Written on November 17 / 2015**

* * *

Minato's new roommate.

* * *

The following Omake is a continuation of a previous Omake featuring Minato and Ophis as a pairing. The Omake is based off of canon DxD, so it will not have any hints for future chapters of 'A Demon Among Devil'

* * *

Ophis was tricked by the Old Satan Faction and because of this her powers were stolen from her, she would have lost all of it if it wasn't for Minato, the OCR and the student council of Kuoh academy coming to help her. She snuck away when they were all distracted.

She only had half of her true strength left and knew it would be nigh impossible to regain her powers again normally.

So, she needed to wait. She needed to wait until she was ready to regain her former power. However, everyone she allied herself with were all with her because of her power. So, she had no one to turn to in her weaken state. No, there was one person.

She could only hope he wouldn't turn her away.

Minato was cleaning his apartment when he heard a knock on the door, he went to answer it and found Ophis standing there, in the middle of the rain.

"May I come in?" Ophis asked.

Minato nodded as he stepped aside to let her in.

Ophis stood outside Minato's apartment for a second before she entered; when she did, she sat down at Minato's table with her eyes looking down.

As if she didn't know what to say…

As the dead silence stretched for a few seconds, Minato sat down opposite Ophis as he decided to break the silence "So, did you enjoy the MP3 I gave you?"

Ophis looked up at Minato and nodded "yes, I added some songs of I found onto to it"

Minato tilted his he slightly "if I may ask, like what?"

Ophis answered "a song called 'Study X Study' and 'Bless your Name' by an artist named 'Choucho'

Minato replied "oh… I've been meaning to check them out, but I've never got around to listen to anything they've played. Do you have any recommendations?"

Ophis shakes her head "I've only heard 'Bless your name' so far…"

Minato nods his head "alright, I'll be sure to check for it online later"

Ophis held up the MP3 player Minato had given her during their last meeting "I would offer to let you listen to the one on my MP3…" Ophis frowned as she looked down "...But, the rain destroy my earphones"

Minato lifted up his own "always have a pair with me, if you're willingly to share"

Ophis stared at Minato and Minato stared at Ophis, one of deep thought and one of patients.

What seemed like a few minutes, but really barely a few seconds, Ophis nodded.

Minato moved to sit with Ophis on the other side of the table, he unplugged his headphones and placed them in Ophis MP3 player. He gave her his left headphone as he put on the right one to listen to the music.

The two sat there listen to music for near an hour before Ophis spoke again "may I stay here until I regain my lost powers?"

Minato took a moment to think. Should he help Ophis? She was a founding member of the Khaos Brigade and caused a lot of trouble that could bring an end to the world as they know it.

But, he also knew the look she had in her eyes the first time they meet. After he found that she was only trying to get back what was taken from her, her home and everything she knew. As someone who was saved from Apathy once by SEES, he felt it was his turn to save Ophis from her Apathy and to show her the things the world had to offer. However, Minato didn't notice the small smile on his face when he spoke next "sure, make yourself at home"

Ophis glanced at him before looking down with a slight blush on her face, unfortunately the moment between the two was ruined when Ophis sneezed.

Version 1

When the Occult Research Club and Raymare came back, they were surprised to see what they found. Mianto and Ophis, who had a towel around herself, were sitting side by side drinking tea.

Version 2

Kiba walked into Minato's apartment and heard something. He was sure no one was supposed to be in Minato's apartment so he went to investigate. What he saw made his mind shut down. He saw Ophis standing in the middle of Minato's bedroom wearing only one of Minato's shirts, while Minato knelt next to her with a measuring tape near her shoulders.

Minato would later explain that Ophis's clothes wear soaked and he lent one of his shirts, Ophis then wanted to get new clothes so Minato took a few general measurement for her new clothes.

Version 3

Issei ran into Minato's bathroom in a rush to use the toilet. When he reached it; he found Minato kneeling next to the bath tub washing Ophis's hair, Ophis herself was playing with a rubber duck.

Minato would later explain that Ophis was on the verge of catching a cold and needed to take a bath. He showed her wear the bath was but he needed to come back because she wasn't sure how to use shampoo; after he explained it and she got shampoo in her eye, Minato decided to wash her hair to show her what to do, and that's when Issei ran in.

In the end.

After the Occult Research Club and Raymare asked Minato why he let Ophis move in, he gave them one answer "she's the only one who asked for permission to stay here and she's also the only one in this room who hasn't broken into my apartment"


	3. A Moment in the Park

A walk in the Park

"Thanks for helping me with that last job, Buchou" Issei said as he walked in the park alongside Rias.

"Nonsense, as the King it's only natural to help my peerage" Rias said with closed eyes.

"Well, thanks all the same. I don't I'd be able to-" Issei stopped mid-sentence and stopped walking as he saw something.

Rias turned to her Pawn with a concern expression "Issei?" she turns to see what he was looking at.

She saw Minato in the middle of the park, wearing his blue/white t-shirt and jeans, starring at Ophis. Ophis was wearing a black skirt with black stockings with blue trim, a black T-Shirt with a blue X over the chest under an open pink hoodie.

The two of them stood there, just starring at each other.

That's it, just starring. Rias and Issei hid behind a tree to see what's going without being seen.

They stood there for a few minutes when Ophis spoke "Please"

Minato answered "no"

They both spoke in complete monotone.

This continued for half an hour with the two repeating the same words, eventually people stopped to stare at the sight and stare in wonder, with a tiny bit of silent terror, as they saw the spot between the two slowly lose its colour. At one point a fly flew between the two, it burst in flames shortly afterwards. This continued until finally.

"Please" Ophis asked.

Minato sighed "fine". Ophis smiled as the two walked off.

Rias and Issei followed them, trying to find out what they were talking about.

Later…

This was not what they imagined.

Minato and Ophis had entered an eating contest, and were destroying the other contestants.

In the end, it ended in a tie between Minato and Ophis.

Because they ran out of food.


	4. Artificial Miracle

**Author's Note: First Written on 17 November / 2015**

* * *

An artificial Miracle

The alliance, of human, angel, fallen and devil, had tracked down one of the Old Satan Faction's labs. What drew great interest in this lab was the fact that Ophis could sense that her stolen powers were taken there.

So, a raid party consisting of Minato, Ophis and Azazel went in to scout ahead while Raymare, her fallen angel allies, and the Occult Research Club held off the guards. Azazel asked Minato to keep an eye on Ophis while he hacked the computer system.

Ophis began wondering off looking for her stolen, she found them.

She discovered her powers were placed inside an egg, she also discovered that her stolen powers had been slightly altered. Minato looked at the egg with a cautious gaze as he felt a type of resonance with the egg.

Suddenly, the egg began to twitch as cracks began to appear on the egg surface. The egg opened up to reveal its contents.

A child, a child that looked around 1 or 2 years old. It had pale skin, deep dark azure hair and pointy ears. The child's eyes open to reveal them to be a light silver colour. Minato, Ophis and the newly hatched baby stared at one another for a couple of minutes before the child began laughing.

Minato and Ophis looked at each other as Azazel came running to them "Minato, Ophis. I have some disturbing news. It looks like the Old Satan Faction was attempting to clone you, Minato, to replicate your Persona Ability" Minato snorted as he attempted to supress his laugh, Azazel raised an eyebrow "However, all they're attempts failed. So they try again, only this time they fused the blood sample they had and Ophis stolen power to create they're current project" Azazel stopped as he noticed Minato's and Ophis gazes were locked on what was in front of them, Azazel moved closer to see what they were looking at "huh, guess you found it"

Sometime later…

As Raymare, her fallen angel companions, and the Occult Research Club came into the lab carrying some of the masked guards from earlier into the lab, Azazel went over to greet them "so, I take it that this guys weren't that tough, eh?" he stopped for a moment when he noticed the uncomfortable looks on their faces "what happened?"

Issei set one of the unconscious guards down so Azazel could see their face, it was an exact copy of Minato's own "They, they cloned Minato and used them as foot soldiers!"

Azazel nodded grimly "not too surprising, considering they've made thousands of clones from a blood sample they got from Minato"

Raymare clenched her fists "I'll kill every last one of them for this" Rias and Akeno nodded their heads in a silent agreement over their plans for the Old Satan Faction. Raymare looked at Azazel "Azazel-Sama, where is Minato right now"

Azazel stiffen when the redeemed angel said that, he looked to the side as she scratched his cheek "well, right now he's in the middle of something with Ophis. They'll be here shortly to show you all what they found"

Unfortunately for Azazel, the girls' thoughts went to something perverted straight away. Which caused them to turn red and Rias looked over to her Pawn "Issei! Which direction is Minato!?"

Akeno joined her King "we may have very little time, we need to know now!"

Raymare turned her attention to Issei as well "from what I've heard, your better than a blood hound for tracking him. Which way is he!?"

Mittelt laughed at the sight "who knows, maybe he's actually into the Nephilim but can't come to terms with his feelings and only uses his talk of breasts to over compensate!" she stopped laughing for a moment when she thought about it "actually, that makes sense"

Dohnaseek rubbed his chin "the degree of… enthusiasm he has displayed about the female form does match the behaviour of others who have had difficulty coming to terms with who they were" he gives Mittelt a thoughtful expression "you might be onto something here…"

Kalawarner developed a slight blush "Maybe those story of the two have some merit after all" both Mittelt and Dohnaseek looked at Kalawarner with surprise expressions "what?"

Kiba spoke next "now that I think about, when Azazel's machine turned Minato into a girl. He started spending far more time staring at him, eh her, then anyone else, and I swear on this with my life I saw hearts in his eyes when he was looking at female Minato once!"

Issei threw his hands in the air "well you all stop talking about that!" he points at one direction "He's that way!"

Akeno, Raymare and Rias flew off in the direction Issei pointed. They found Minato, but the sight they saw made them freeze.

Ophis was kneeling on the ground as an infant walked from her to a crouching down Minato, the infant reached Minato and he held the child in the air. It was at this point the two notice their new arrivals.

Later…

After Azazel explained to everyone who the infant was, Issei asked "so, this child is Minato's and Ophis's son?"

Both Minato and Ophis stared at the sleeping child in Ophis's arms while Akeno, Raymare and Rias went completely stiff, they all uttered the word "son…" for different reasons.

Azazel clapped his hands "well, now that's out of the way. It'll be best if we run tests on this little science experiment" he was about to pick up the child when he was shot ice colds stares from both Ophis and Minato.

"His name is Yuuki" they both said as some of Minato's Personas manifested.

Rias spoke up as she pointed at the two "you can't raise that child, you're too young to be a father or mother" she then points at Ophis "especially with the form you took"

Ophis morphed from her young form to one of a woman in her mid-twenties, roughly Minato's height and with an hour glass figure that could rival Archangel Gabriel's figure.

Rias hesitated for a moment before continuing "besides, do either of you know how to raise a child?"

Minato spoke next "I have several Personas famous for good child raising"

Azazel approached the two slowly "okay, let's calm down. Remember, little… Yuuki's birth was artificial. So I think it would be best if we run some examinations for safety reasons"

Minato and Ophis looked uncomfortable for a few moments before they handed Yuuki to Azazel. As Azazel turned around and began walking away, Yuuki started trying to get out of Azazel's arm. Minato and Ophis went stiff as Yuuki began crying and saying "Ma-mama! Pa-papa!" between wails.

Minato and Ophis suddenly appeared in front of Azazel and took Yuuki back

They were all left silent for a moment before Yuuki giggled "Mana! Papa!"

16 years…

A teenager looks at his alarm clock as he got up "Damn, I'm late!

They ran down stairs and grabbed a piece of toast, before he made it to the door his father stopped him "Yuuki, remember not to stay out too late" Yuuki's father, Minato, said as he straightened his tie.

"Sweetie, your bag" Yuuki's mother, Ophis, said as she gave her son his school bag.

"Thanks, bye mom, bye dad, I'll be back after Kendo Practice" said Yuuki as he ran, so as not to miss his first day back at Kuoh Highschool


	5. Wildcard and Dragon God

**This snippet here is from TheIdeaGuy on Spacebattles who gave me permission to repost it here, it's a part of a round robin where a pan-realities social and dating site allows characters to meet and become friends or event discover love.**

Bond between a Wild Card and Dragon God

In a Realm appearing as a starry night stood a grand door of intricate design, upon it was a statue of a young man crucified and bound by barbed wire to the golden door.

Across from this door, emerging from the Darkness await from the many lights that dotted the realm, was a two headed horned monstrosity born of malevolence and the desire of the End of All Things. It stalked closer to the door as it has done countless times, all before it was driven back by a woman in blue able to summon Death itself to fell the monstrosity for a time.

As it drew near it saw the woman in blue standing before the golden door, her back to the creature as her gaze was focused on the statue bound to it. However, unlike before she was not alone.

Three more who wore blue and ruled over power stood before the monstrosity, three that slew it without hesitation as the woman in blue floated towards the statue to place a gloved hand on it's chest.

**MXDMXDMXD**

"Wake up Minato, open your eyes. Hmm, did it not work?"

Minato Arisato gingerly opened his eyes, looking up he saw the face of the velvet room attendant who aided him through his journey "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth's eyes widen before she beamed a smile "Ah, I see it work just as intended"

Minato groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head as he did so "What work, what?" his eyes widened in panic as he looked around to see they were in a park in the middle of the day "Where are we, what about the Seal?"

Minato's mind whirled with the thoughts of The Great Seal keeping Erebus and Ny apart, if the failed then all life would-

Minato's thoughts were interrupted when Elizabeth put a finger on his lip, a smile on her lips "The Great Seal is fine, I wouldn't have tried this if I thought there was a chance the seal would become undone and undo all you've done"

Minato nodded, looking around their surroundings and started to notice he didn't see anyone else "Elizabeth, what did you do? How were you able to free me from the seal?"

"Well, 'free' wouldn't be the right word to use. I discovered a way to relieve you of your burden for a time" Elizabeth summoned a transparent screen with the Omni-Connection logo on it.

Minato read the message on the screen, and re read it to make sure he wasn't misreading it or missed anything "Huh"

"I know, lady luck must have been smiling when I received membership to this service" Elizabeth offered her hand to help Minato to his feet, his accepted in an instant as Elizabeth looked around the area "Now to show you the wonders I have uncovered here!"

Minato's stomach grumbled loudly.

"And I have an idea on where to start~" Elizabeth said as she laid Minato to a nearby food stand.

They spent much time together, enjoying each other's company as they had done so years ago when Minato gave Elizabeth tours of the Real World outside the Velvet Room. Their activities varied greatly from simple meals, amusement rides along battles both back to back and against one another.

The two last track of time but, eventually, Elizabeth and Minato reluctantly parted ways once she was certain he knew how to work Omni-Connection.

**MXDMXDMXDMXD**

Elizabeth found herself before the Great Seal once more, unchanged from when she gave Minato access to Omni-Connections. Elizabeth held a bittersweet smile as she looked at the Great Seal "An improvement for sure, but not enough"

"Sister, are you alright? Are you able to invite Minato to this Omni-Connection?" Elizabet's brother Theodore asked.

"Of course Theo, in fact Minato and I spent many hours together" Elizabeth turned around to see her brother giving her a confused look "Hmm. It seems events stopping while using it seems to work even here in the Sea of Souls. All the more wonderful!"

"Elizabeth. What are you planning? Saving him from this fate has been your goal, and while giving him some reprieve from his burden I can't help but feel you have other intent" Margaret, Elizabeth and Theodore's older sister, asked even as she kept her eyes on the darkness around them.

"A Wild Card's power is born from the bonds they make with others, it's my hope that either he or I would gain the power needed to free him from the Seal. Since Omni-Connections connect us with those from other realities there is a chance they would have such a power among their countless number, or perhaps nature enough bonds to bring the power of the Wildcard to a new level" Elizabeth smiled at the thought "It's worth an attempt, regardless"

"We hope that this plan of yours works, sister" Lavenza, Elizabeth and Theo's little sister, said as she put her book under her arm "If you have need of us again, do not hesitate-" Lavenza paused as she saw a blue butterfly pass by her line of sight "I'm sorry, it seems I'm needed at the moment. Excuse me"

Margaret chuckled as she saw Lavena run "She has certainly grown over the past year"

"Indeed. Although, perhaps we should visit her trickster when we gain the chance" Theo said, glancing at the direction his little sister left by "I mean, if there is another situation like with those Phantom Fields and converging dimensions they will be instrumental in defending against such threats as would Narukami"

"Are you worried about such events, or for Lavenza?" Margaret asked, saing her brother's reaction she smiled "I wouldn't worry too much. The master has confirmed that this Omni-Connection is safe, as is Lavenza's trickster"

MXDMXDMXDMXD

Minato took a while to get used to using Omni-Connection, he used it sparingly as the fear of the Great Seal coming undone while using Omni-Connection was ever present.

For now, he was content to see what was recommended for him. So far his experience with the service has been interesting.

**MXD[Minato meets the Emperor of Mankind, from Text to speak device]MXD**

Minato looked up at the giant of a man in golden armor, the man in question looked at Minato with an unreadable expression.

"You acting as a cornerstone to prevent Humanity from being screwed over?" Minato nodded, the man gave him a sympathetic look before sitting down cross legged to get to eye level "You want to talk about it? Also, don't take this the wrong way, how did you end up like that because you seem like a normal emo teen to me"

Minato thought about the best way to explain his situation, following his gut he summoned Messiah and gestured towards it "Well, the power I have is known as Persona which gave me the power to save my world. Though if your looking for how the crisis that put my world in danger-"

Minato was caught off guard as he noticed The Emperor's intense gaze on Messiah, slowly that turned to Minato "I need to know about this power, EVERYTHING you know" The Emperor rubbed his chin "Depending on how similar it is to what I have in my world, it might be a key in saving the galaxy" The Emperor gained a thoughtful look "Might be able to teach you something, depending on how similar it is"

**MXD[School Experience Event]MXD**

Minato looked around the classroom he found himself in with several other users, he looked around the class to there was a range of reactions with everyone. Ranging from an apathetic to excited and to confused.

A blast from the front of the class draws everyone's attention, standing there was a woman wearing a tracksuit.

"Okay, to give you all the rundown on what's happening you'll be given 30 minute to interact with your classmates afterwards we'll begin lessons with regular breaks between subjects. Try and be considerate for the school experience of the others besides yourself" turning around she wrote on the blackboard introduction in large bold letters "Now then, who would like to introduce themselves first along with an interesting fact about yourself"

"Oh, Oh! I'll go first" a girl with shoulder length dark hair jumped from her seat and skipped to the front "I am Konno Yuuki, it's nice to meet you all" Yuuki bowed before putting a finger to her chin "As for an interesting. Well, I'm currently the best Swordsman in the VRMMORPG Alfheim Online"

"Thank you, Miss Konno. Would anyone like to go next?"

A boy wearing a pink jacket got up from his seat and took Yuuki's place as she returned to her seat "I'm Steven Universe. And I guess an interesting fact about me is, uh" Steven paused, not due to having nothing to say but rather not being certain on what to say "Well, I've been homeschooled all my life and this the first time I've been in a classroom"

Next was a spiky haired teen with a crown neckleash "Hi, I'm Sora. As for something interesting, I became the apprentice to a rat chef who taught me how to cook by pulling my hair"

"Seriously? Hope they didn't touch the food" a white haired man with a green and red eye said.

"Mr Bloodedge, would you like to go next" the teacher said from their desk, scrolling something on their tablet as they did so.

Bloodedge sighed and stood up from his seat but didn't move to the front "Name's Ragna The Bloodedge, Bloodedge being more of a title I inherited then an actually name" Ragna sat back down.

Minato turned to the only other person who hadn't introduced themselves, a girl seemingly around his age with red hair tied into pigtails. Once they made eye contact he knew she was a bit nervous, without a word he got up and worked up to the front of the class with his hands in his pockets.

"I am Minato Arisato. Me and my friends, who includes a dog and a robot girl, worked together over the course of a year worked to undo the damages a doomsday cult had done to destroy the world" Minato bowed to the assembled class "I am in your care"

Minato walked back to his seat, as he did the red haired girl stood up and took her place in front.

"Um, hi. I'm Sari Sumdac, and" Sari lifted her hands as they seemed to fold out to reveal machinery "I'm a techno-organic. Basically half human half machine" her hands folded back in so they appeared human once more "And no, it's not a cyborg thing"

**MXDMXDMXD**

So far he's been enjoying himself, as he was searching for an event to join or person to meet he got a message from an admin about a match.

Minato found himself in a barren land with little to no plant life around him, not even a gush of wind, merely dirt and a cloudy sky above. He looked around the area to see who he was meant to meet in this area, he sensed her before he saw her.

Looking up Minato's eyes meet another's whose gaze reminded him of himself before he joined SEES, he understood why an admin recommended they should meet.

The second thing he noticed was the girl's questionable state of dress.

**MXDMXDMXDMXDMXD**

Ophis was pleased.

She began using this 'Omni-Connection' to recruit more allies to her cause after a bug gave her access to it, though her attempts have met with only failure. Those she met were either too weak to be of any use in her battle against The Great Red.

She still didn't understand their problem with the way she dressed.

But now, she has found one who was powerful. One she felt held tremendous powers of angels, devils, dragons and so many others. All she needed to do now was have him join her, the question was how?

He didn't say what he wanted nor was he tempted by power, she will need to meet him again but there must be something else to help gain his loyalty.

Ophis mind remembered the headphones and MP3 he held.

Teleporting to one of her minions Ophis gave her orders "I want an MP3 and headphones?"

The Devil paused and gave her a confused look "Um, I'm sorry?"

Ophis frowned, why were they apologizing "I want an MP3 and headphones, one that plays popular music from the human world"

"May I ask the reason why?"

"No" Ophis said, leaving that moment and returned to her room. She began thinking of other means to gain Minato's loyalty as she waited for the MP3 to be delivered.

Ophis held out the MP3 player and headphones to Minato "Here, it's filled with songs from my world"

Minato looked at the MP3 with interest "Any songs you'd recommend?"

Ophis shook her head, she hadn't listened to the music on the device after it was handed to her. A large puff of smoke appeared beside them to show a large record player with massive speakers, a small camera-like device popped out that scanned both Ophis and Minato's MP3 players before receding back in.

The LED screen lit up with the words "Minato X Ophis Playlist"

Minato looked down at his and Ophis's MP3 players and looked back to the record player as it began playing Lotus Juice "Guess we can listen to the music together without our headphones"

Ophis frowned at the record player before another puff of smoke drew their attention, Ophis looked at the building with windows filled with clothes with a curious expression.

Seeing the look on Ophis's face reminds Minato of Elizabeth when he showed her around Tatsumi Port Island, he turned back to the store as he explained what it was to Ophis. With not much else to do the two entered the shop to look around and try on new clothes, both finding new clothes to add to their wardrobe.

And both were confused at why there were wedding dresses and suits in their size on full display.

**MXD[Several meet ups later]MXD**

"Why are you nice to me?" Ophis asked as she stared intently at her cone that still had a little ice cream left before finishing it off. She turned to Minato as he ate his own ice cream "You don't want my power or to aid you in defeating an enemy, why are you nice to me?"

"Because we're friends" Minato answered without hesitation.

"We're friends?" Ophis asked, confused at what made him think they were friends.

"Well, we hang out all the time when you're online. I think that makes us friends"

Ophis pondered over the idea. Were they friends? She repeatedly visited him to gain his loyalty in fighting the Great Red and reclaiming her home, as she thought about it she realizes she hasn't attempted to convince him to join her in awhile. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she actually seemed to like spending time with him.

The question was how to make sure he was geniunie in his words.

"I'm not a little girl, nor am I human" Ophis said as she got up and stood in front of Minato. Transforming into her former form of an old man

"I have taken on many different forms throughout the ages, longer then you could even imagine" Ophis said in their old man form before cycling through others, some that appeared humanoid in nature and others far from it.

"I am Ophis, The Infinity Dragon God" taking on the form of a massive winged serpent Ophis looked down on Minato, their gaze never leaving his "So, do you still consider me your friend regardless of the form I take?"

Ophis expected a number of different reactions from Minato, him smiling as he rubbed her dragon form's nose was not one of them.

"Of course. It's still you, after all"

Ophis returned to the form she used most when interacting with Minato "I see" Ophis looked down at the ground, refusing to look up "We're friends then" Ophis looked up to Minato with a smile "So, do you have any ideas for other fun stuff we could do?"

The two spent a good deal of time hanging out before going their separate ways.

**MXDMXDMXDMXD**

Ophis looked up at the sky as lightning streaked across it and gathered around a hammer held aloft, with a thunderous roar the war hammer struck it's target sending the small plastic ball racing downward towards a pink shield.

The shield's wielder was unharmed but was pushed back leaving a trench in the ground, a loud whistle rang out through the field as the one overseeing it all gave their judgement.

"Mr Universe is out of bounds, please take your place on the bench" The teacher said with a bored expression.

"Ah man" Steven said as he picked himself up.

"Come on, how is that fair the guy is firing lightning enhanced throws with that hammer!" Ragna called out as he pointed to Minato wielding Mjölnir as Thor lowered him to the ground.

"And you use Ether enhanced throws with that arm of yours and Ms Konno uses her magic and sword arts" Looking over the teacher finally noticed Ophis "Alright class, we got a late arrival. Ophis here will be joining us for the remainder of the school day, be sure to make her feel welcomed"

Ophis wonder if this was how all schools worked.

**MXDMXDMXDMXDMXDMXDMXD**

"Asia Argento, you wield the healing Sacred Gear Twilight Healing. Correct?"

The former nun turned devil blinked at the sudden question "Uh, yes. Why do you ask?"

Those of the Hyoudou Residence looked confused by the sudden question from the Dragon God, including those who came with Ophis. Kuroka and Le Fay shared a puzzled look, neither knowing about any other reason for them being at the Hyoudou Residence other than observing Issei Hyoudou's growth.

"Recently, I've begun having signs that I may be ill. So I want you to use your Sacred Gear to cure me. I've made my form as human as possible, by using knowledge I was able to gain from some gods, in order to aid in finding the cause" Ophis said as she continued to stare at Asia.

"Wait a minute, is THAT why you beat up several gods last week?" The valkyrie turned devil Rossweisse asked aloud.

Ophis didn't answer, merely waiting for Asia's response.

"Um, okay. What is happening that makes you think you're ill?" Asia asked, wondering if there was anything she could do to help Ophis.

Ophis was silent for a moment as she organized her thoughts "My face gets red and it becomes harder to focus on things, I can force it to stop to some degree but it always comes back" as she says this Ophis's cheeks being to light up with a blush, everyone focused on the Dragon God as she looks down and points to her chest "I've also noticed my heart beats faster as well"

Kuroka and Le Fay shared a shocked look between, one looking curious while the other sported a growing cat-like grin.

"Ophis" Asia said carefully "Do these things happen when you think of someone or certain people?"

"?" Ophis was silent for a moment as she thought it over "Yeah, my best friend"

Azazel looked at the Dragon God shock written clearly on his face.

Asia nodded, her own blushing beginning to form as well "Ophis, I think you have a crush on your friend. Maybe even-"

"Ah~!" Kuroka hugged Ophis causing the smaller girl's head to become buried in the cat girl's chest "I never thought I'd see the day little Ophis fell in love with anyone, though I guess that explains some of the changes" Kuroka looked down at the little Dragon God whose head was firmly between her breasts "So, who won your heart? A dragon, a diety, maybe someone from the three factions?"

"He's human" Ophis said.

"Well, I'll be damned again. I never thought it could happen" Azazel said under his breath, unheard of by everyone else save Issei.

"What'd mean by that?" Issei asked the Fallen Angel, glancing towards the others as they seemed to focus on Ophis's love life.

"Well, how do I put it? Ophis has never really shown an interest in anything besides what could be used to defeat the Great Red. Add in the all the past failures of love and fertility deities alongside powerful incubus trying to gain their power through what they know best, strongly hinting that Ophis is Asexual on top of being technically Genderless" Azazel turned to fully face Issei with his head tilted towards the constantly blushing humanoid Dragon God still stuck between a pair of breasts "Meaning whoever this mysterious person is, their strong enough to draw Ophis's personal attention and smooth enough to have her fall genuinely in love with him. This isn't a crush, I believe it's true love"

"Seriously, true love?" Issei turned back to the group as Ophis seemed to mention going to school with this mystery guy "Well, congrats on her then. Finding true love has to be a blessing"

"I'd say miracle would be more fitting" Azazel said as he kept his attention on Ophid and what she said, so far she told them he has blue hair, likes music, goes to school and knows WHAT Ophis is.

"Say, how about we visit this friend~ Of yours? Get a look at him ourselves" Kuroka asked Ophis, everyone around them were accepting of the idea. Everyone except Ophis.

"No" Ophis said resolutely, easily pushing Kuroka away and separating from the Stray Devil, her blush gone Ophis's expression returned to a blank look as she fiddled with the MP3 around her neck.

"Jealousy, protectiveness or both?" Azazel said as his eyes focused on the MP3 and headphones Ophis had taken to always have as of late.

**Behind the Scenes**

* * *

Later… With the Admins

* * *

Aphrodite nervously bit her nails as she monitored Ophis, she knew Ophis was meant to be poisoned by Samael's poison and becoming depowered to an extent as a result. There were rules in place that limited the amount they could interfere with other worlds, bringing joy and happiness to individuals was one thing but altering the fate of a world was another.

"Ah, screw it"

With those words Aphrodite sent a message to Minato about the situation and opened up a path for him to help Ophis, he could be gone for a week before needing to worry about the Great Seal.

"Dite" a barely restrained voice could be heard from behind Aphrodite, slowly turning around she saw her supervisor. And they were pissed "What did you just do?"

* * *

"And so, due to the unethical intervention of Former Admin Aphrodite, we will like to remind you that Omni-Connection is for enriching the lives of everyone by meeting new people and not altering the fates of realities" Tired Lawyer said to Minato, as he held Ophis in a bridal carry.

"Due to the chaos it would create?" Ophis asked as she had her arms around Minato's neck.

"Yes, and we'd be painting pretty big targets on our backs" Tired Lawyer looked over the papers with details of the current situation "Now, since her actions have caused the fate of this world to change I need to ask you two to help ensure this doesn't end with their reality's destruction" Flicking through the passages Tired Lawyer found what they needed to do "Okay, says here we need to kill Rizevim Livan Lucifer to do that"

"Oh, him. I knew I'd have to kill him one day" Helel said as he towered above Minato along side Messiah, Satan and Ouroboros "Brat had crazy eyes the minute he was born, I told Lilith we should have killed him"

"We will be offering all the help we can to accomplish this goal, do you believe any locals will be open to the idea of helping?" Tired Lawyer asked as they looked at the frozen World and the numerous expressions on everyone's faces, many focused on the Personas above them

"I don't think that will be a problem" Minato said as he looked over everyone to double check if they were alright, his eyes drifting to a partial summoned Archangel.

Author's Note:

Thinking of writing new snippets for Minato X Ophis after the positive reception, they'd be new ones without not related to other fan works so a bit more room to work with.


	6. MessiahXDragon: Two souls without a home

**Author's Note:** _Alright, this here is the start of a new series of snippets starring Minato and Ophis as a main pairing. I already have a basic plotline thought up so I have an idea on where to take this._

_Feel free to share your own ideas for snippets or general set ups for this duo and if I like them I'll see of including them in the series of snippets or in one shot Omakes._

* * *

**Two souls without a home**

It had been two months since he found himself in this new world.

Minato didn't know what miracle Elizabeth was able to bring about but he was freed from the seal and granted another chance, what felt like his third chance to enjoy life. Though his return was bittersweet, as he was in a world not his own. He managed to deal with his emotions by focusing on finding money and a place to live but once those were sorted it, it became impossible not to cry.

However, even if they weren't with him he knew what they would tell him at the moment and used it to push forward. Living the best life he could in this new world, and hopefully a normal one.

A hope that was snuffed out late one night.

He was walking home to his apartment when he felt something off, an unknown presence he couldn't place was coming closer to him. Looking down the road Minato saw a young couple walking behind a woman with their heads hanging low, he turned to the woman and felt the presence coming off of her. He turned to look over the couple again when he saw it, their eyes were empty like those without potential drawn into the Dark Hour.

He waited for them to pass him before following after them, when they reached an old warehouse he saw what the woman truly was.

A chimera mix of human and beast, the head and torso remained human while it's arms slipped apart into four spider limbs that ended in hands with razor sharp nails. It's legs morphed into the body of a spider with eight spider legs.

Once it saw him he already had his evoker ready, there was surprise on the creature's human-like face before it morphed into a vicious smile as sadistic delight lit it's eyes as it approached Minato, mockingly slow.

Raising the evoker to his head the creature's smile grew and became inhuman, he already knew what it was.

Minato pulled the trigger as the denizen of Hell watched as the sound of shatter glass rang out.

**I am Thou, and Thou art I.**

**I am that with no beginning nor end.**

**The embodiment of eternity and cycles, of life, death and renewal.**

**I am the Infinite, Ouroboros. **

The winged serpent said as it appeared above Minato, the serpent looked around for the monster "Where'd the creature go, is it hiding?"

"No," Minato said as he pointed to the smoking remains of the demon, little more than the tips of it's spider legs that were already starting to fade away.

"That's anticlimactic" Ouroboros said as Minato rushed over to check the young couple, Ouroboros looked around to see if there was a hidden enemy or anything to do. They moved beside Minato to see the couple were completely fine. Seeing the couple begin to stir Ouroboros returned to the Sea of Souls, ready to take action at a moment's notice.

Ouroboros wasn't alone in anticipation, for within the endless sea did countless others begin to stir. Gods, Demons, Heroes and Monsters. All were united in what was before them.

Because this world wasn't so normal after all.

* * *

Ophis was very displeased.

She had given some of her power to those who said they'd help her defeat Great Red and reclaim the Dimensional Gap, while they hadn't shown much progress she'd kept a close eye on those she had given out power to through her snakes

Snakes she called back to herself to look over and sent back when it was clear they weren't tampered with, leaving one option remaining.

Someone was able to steal a portion of her power without her knowing.

With a very displeased frown she left her room and pushed by several beings that came to her, she ignored their questions as she left for the human World.

She will find whoever managed to steal her power and make them answer for what they have done.

* * *

Did coming to this world change him, or perhaps obtaining the Universe Arcana was the source of his change?

This was the question that had popped into Minato's mind several times since his encounter with the demon, the cause of this question was due to his healing of the young couple.

Nothing negative, they were fine. Better then fine as all their injuries and illnesses were gone, they stopped by the cafe he worked at to thank him as they glowed with health. During his break they told him of their visit to the doctor after their fainting spell, the doctors ran several tests on them back to back before confirming without a doubt that they were as healthy as they could be for their age.

The thing was, Minato was sure the healing magic he used wasn't that powerful. He used Dia on several plants and even some injured or sickly animals after the plants, the plants were rejuvenated from withered states with flowers coming into full bloom or growing nuts and fruits that were more delicious than they should have been. The effects were more pronounced with animals as any disease or injury were undone, a particular case of a dog missing one of it's legs having it returned to full health came to Minato's mind, with some older ones even de-aging with some of the more powerful magic.

And all without manifesting a Persona.

He could use Persona skills without manifesting a Persona but the skill would always be weaker without a full manifestation, SEES rarely used it while battling Shadows unless weak Shadows were blocking the path to someone dragged into Tartarus, otherwise full manifestations in life or death fights were the standard procedure.

But now those weakened skills were far more powerful, at least with healing as he had yet to try any other, and since Ouroboros mere summoning was enough to destroy the demon it wasn't a stretch the same could be applied to his Personas.

Still, there wasn't much he could do for now, he could go out later that night to train and see what he could do in the woods or in a particular deserted part of the city. But for now he had more pressing concerns.

*Ding!*

"Welcome, how may I serve you this fine day?" Minato asked as he bowed towards the high school girls that just entered.

He still had a few hours of work at the maid and butler cafe, when the kindly old couple offered him a place to stay and work during his first week in this world it wasn't the first thing that sprung to mind.

* * *

Ophis looked down at the human city as she scanned for any sign of the one who managed to steal her power, it was unremarkable all things considered. Just a normal city with Devil's claiming territory with a small group of Fallen Angels. The only thing of any real note was a Devil with the Welsh Dragon's power but they were far too weak to be useful for now, Ophis was beginning to become frustrated with her lack of progress.

She knew whoever stole her power was in this human city, she could FEEL it all around here and even found the place where she sensed her stolen power was used. Tightening her knuckles, Ophis decided she'd sent out her snakes to comb the city for the thief, as she was about to unleash them when she felt an odd surge of power.

Deciding to pause in her pursuit of the thief, Ophis went to observe what was the source of the new power.

She found herself on the outskirts of the city near a forest, she focused on the only two beings present there beside herself.

A Stray Devil was battling a human with his left hand engulfed in flames while his right was covered in ice, the Stray attacked with wide slashes and throwing it's massive bulk around. Other than knocking down several trees it did nothing, the human dodged it's predictable attacks and either froze limbs or severely burned them.

The human crossed his arms as he pointed his fists towards the Stray Devil, from the flames and ice came two creatures. From the ice came a creature of snow garbed in blue while from the flames a pumpkin headed creature holding onto a lantern emerged, the creatures moved together as one despite their differences and faced the Stray as a microphone appeared between them.

Ophis tilted her head, confused at the sight. The Stray did so as well as it looked at the two creatures playfully dancing before they seemed to talk to each other, without warning the Stray threw its head back and began laughing uncontrollably. It fell to the ground moments before the human slammed their ice fist on the ground and encased the stray in ice before swinging his other arm to engulf it all in a tornado of flames.

Several moments later, the Stray Devil was no more with all remaining was a single Rook piece. The human picked up the Evil Piece and looked it over before crushing it, Ophis was unable to see their expression as they walked to a nearby tree and placed a hand on it, a faint glow from his palm spread across the tree and into the forest around them as overturn trees and gouges in the ground were undone.

By the end the forest was restored to a pristine state, even the animals killed in the battle returned to life.

This peaked Ophis's interest, while not uncommon for beings to use elemental magic it was unheard of to use them without manifesting a magic circle outside of those with special affinities from lineage or Sacred Gears. Being able to use two elements along with powerful restoration magic was highly unusual, and potentially a powerful asset against the Great Red.

Ophis was about to approach the human when she sensed it, her own power could be faintly sensed from the human. Far too weak to be the thief, but perhaps an ally or someone they interacted with regularly.

Ophis teleported away when the human turned in her direction, while it wasn't her plan originally she would follow the human to uncover the truth of the matter. If there was one thing Ophis was, she was patient.

* * *

Minato felt like he was being followed

For the past few days he constantly felt a pair of eyes on him and whenever he turned to where he thought the stalker would be they would move somewhere else, so far they didn't seem hostile but Minato knew that could change at a moment's notice. He stayed up the first few nights waiting to see how'd they act, relying on Ouroboros's power to stop him from feeling tired helped him get through seventy four hours without sleep but when he became clear his stalker wasn't going to do anything even if he did sleep meant they were waiting for something or collecting information.

For now he needed to wait and prepare for who or whatever was following him.

"Minato, dear, table 8 is looking for their check"

"Right away Ma'am'' Minato answered the co-owner of the cafe, he gave the kind old lady a smile as he went off to the table in question. Thinking about it he was really lucky to run into Mr and Mrs Nakajima when he first arrived in this new world, the couple gave him both work with their butler and maid cafe along with a place to stay with the small apartments connected to the back of the cafe. Working with them brought back fond memories of the time he spent with Bunkichi and Mitsuko, though he was a bit curious at how fast they were able to get him documents.

It was almost as if they had more than a few criminal connections. Even if they did, Minato knew in his heart they were good people, and not just because they took him in thinking he was a homeless run away.

Near the end of his shift Mr called him to his office, saying it was urgent. The office itself was rather spacious and well organized, two desks pushed together with photos of the couple's children, grandchildren and great grandchildren alongside photos of former employees. Mr Nakajima gestured to Minato to sit as he took out a file "Got good news, your transfer to Kuoh Academy is all finished up. Even got your uniform ready, all we needed was your measurements but we already have those when you got fitted for your uniform"

Minato took the file and looked over it's contents, smiling as he saw he was being transferred into 3rd year and wouldn't need to repeat his second as he feared "Thank you, I don't know where to even begin paying you back-"

"Ah, think nothing of it" Mr Nakajima said as leaned back into his chair "It was no trouble at all, besides it's the less we can do after all the new business we're getting" Mr Nakajima's eyes held a great deal of mirth within them "You a bigger magnet for the ladies then I thought, no doubt those Kuoh Academy girls are going to be happy you'll be going there too"

Minato didn't have a response for Mr Nakajima's teasing so he just smiled.

"Anyway, one of our granddaughters will be taking you to the academy on your first day. Though, a word of warning" Mr Nakajima gestured for Minato lean in closer before whispering to the young man "Little Aika can be a bit perverted, so if she gives you any trouble don't be afraid to tell us"

Minato nodded, putting that little piece of information away for later.

Returning to his apartment Minato put a note outside his window before making himself dinner, he had a busy few days in front of him to prepare for his new school.

_'To my stalker, I'm going to the park at midnight and would like to meet you in person there. If you don't show up I will search for you myself'_

Dealing with his stalker being top of the list.

* * *

Within one of the parks of Kuoh Town was a picnic table with two individuals sitting across from each other. A young man wearing a winter jacket with a blue scarf and across from him a young lady wearing a gothic lolita dress with her torso bare to the world with her modesty spar only by a few strips of tape over her nipples.

_'I was expecting someone odd, but I wasn't expecting this_' Minato thought to himself. Taken aback by the girl's power and not her fashion decisions. Ouroboros was at the forefront of his mind, their attention squarely on the girl with a power oh so similar to their own.

"You're the one whose been following me the past week" Minato said, deciding to forgo the small talk and cut right to the matter.

Ophis nodded "How did you know? I was careful to remain out of sight"

"I can sense you" Minato said nonchalantly.

"?"

Ophis silently stared at Minato, her gaze intense as she took in everything she could, before a glint passed over her eyes as she summoned her snakes.

"You're the thief" Ophis stood, prepared to attack Minato.

Minato raised his hands in surrender "I'm sorry, I think there might be a misunderstanding. I haven't stolen anything"

"I can sense my stolen on you, if you didn't steal my power how else do you explain that?" Ophis's snakes inched closer.

'_I shall settle the matter_' Ouroboros said in Minato's mind, Minato's focus was on the infinite dragon for a moment before he took out his evoker and placed it against his head.

He leapt backwards as one of Ophis's snakes raced towards the evoker Minato had against his head "I believe this is a moment where actions speak louder than words, to clear up this little misunderstanding"

With the sound of shattering glass Ouroboros gazed down at Ophis, two dragons of Infinite staring each other down with a look of confusion for one and amusement for the other.

"**Hello, my counterpart**"

* * *

Ophis was very pleased.

In her search for a non-existent thief she had come across something unbelievable, another Infinite Dragon. Even though Ophis didn't fully understand this 'Persona' that gave Minato access to such power she knew enough that it would be essential in her battle against the Great Red, however there was a new problem.

How to ensure his loyalty?

Normally offering others a piece of her power, or other similarly small things, would be enough but since he held a power so similar to her own made things difficult.

Especially if those under her now switch loyalty to Minato after learning what she knows, making it all the more important for her to ensure his loyalty. For now she will continue watching over Minato, to learn what she can.

Though, after sharing with him her story of being forced out of her home by the Great Red, admitting to having no home opened up a new avenue of surveillance.

"Ah~ Come her dear, you can stay with us for as long as you need" Mrs Nakajima said as she hugged Ophis before leading the Dragon God to one of the tables.

Staying at the Cafe's apartments for a week or so should give her a chance for closer observation of Minato along with new opportunities to secure him as an asset.

"Here, a little snack while we sort out a room for you" Mrs Nakajima handed Ophis a small plate of cookies with a glass of milk before going back over to her husband, both beginning to whisper amongst themselves with Minato and some maids about Ophis's well-being as they thought see was a homeless human child Minato came across during his nightly walks.

'A week should be enough for what's needed' Ophis thought to herself before taking a bite from the cookie, she chewed slowly as she savoured every bit of the cookie.

'Then again, a few months wouldn't hurt' Ophis thought before devouring the sweets before her.

* * *

Omake Time:

Everyone is here!

Rias looked out to the picnic table where the subject of her interest for the past week sat waiting for them, she and her Peerage had been keeping track of the young man after Koneko saw him healing animals all over town.

"Okay everyone, just like we rehearsed" Rias whispered before she got ready to move forward when she saw move in the corner of her vision, turning around Rias saw a group of Fallen Angels looking back at her.

The two groups glared at each other before a hand got between them "No fighting here, at least not yet"

The two groups turned to see the new arrivals of Sirzechs, Azazel and Michael. Azazel turned to his fellow Fallen Angels "Raymare, what are you and your group doing here?"

The Fallen Angel stood like a deer caught in the headlights, she looked around to find anything to change the subject which was when she spotted several Yokai walking past them towards Minato.

As more and more Factions and groups appeared to meet with Minato, all of them following him at one point or another, none noticed Ophis sitting beside Minato at the table as they both watched the groups that thought they kept hidden.


	7. MessiahXDragon: Peaceful Days

**Author's Note: Okay, there is something I need to bring up first before we go any further. Currently Ophis is living with Minato under the alias of Phis, same name she used in the light novels, to not gather attention from the supernatural and making everyone believe Ophis is a normal girl or one with some dragon heritage.**

**Second, there will be a side story after this snippet. To give a look at Minato's life from an outsider's point of view, with the point of view character being a cameo from a different series. No current plans for this character to have much of a presence in future snippets.**

**Currently I have two more Omakes [non-conan to the snippets] that will appear in future snippets.**

**Days of a Messiah and Dragon God**.

Minato opened his eyes to see a pair of reptilian eyes staring down at him, analyzing him as he slept with no malice to be found.

"Morning, Ophis" Minato said as he sat up from his futon, stretching as he let out a yawn.

"Morning" Ophis answered back as she got to her feet.

It has been a few days since Ophis came to live at the 'Servant Quarters' behind Gentle Etiquette, during which she has been going by Phis to not tip anyone in the Moonlight world who she is.

During the few days of living together Minato has learned a few things about Ophis, like how she doesn't sleep. Instead when he goes to bed she comes into his room and watches him sleep, it was a surprise the first time it happened but he quickly got used to Ophis watching him sleep.

He admits he was desensitised to the idea of people watching him sleep, SEES monitoring the members during the Dark Hour when they slept was one thing since it was part of the security system but Aigis really went all the way.

After getting dressed into his new school uniform, after Ophis teleported back to her own room to change, they both headed downstairs for breakfast. As they were finishing their meal the front door of the cafe opened up with a chim, finishing his meal Minato got up and saw Mrs Nakajima talking to a girl wearing the Kuoh Academy girl uniform.

"Ready to go dear?" Mrs Nakajima asked as she noticed Minato, Minato nodded as he noticed Nakajima's granddaughter staring at him.

The way she looked him up and down told Minato her stare was far from innocent.

"Grandma, this is so unfair" she pouted before glancing at her grandmother, who gave the teenage girl a frown and a stern look.

"Just behave yourself and try not to scare him off" with those words said Mrs Nakajima turned around and began walking back into the back of the cafe, wishing Minato the best on his first day at his new school as she went.

"I wasn't going to do much, anyway. Nice to meet you, I'm Aika Kiryuu" Aika bowed slightly, Minato bowed in return and after some quick introductions the two made their way to school.

The two made small talk on their way to Kuoh Academy.

"So, you're the reason two workers quit?" Minato asked bluntly.

Aika eye twitch "They were planning to go off to other jobs or college. I just made their last day a little uncomfortable" Aika crossed her arms over her chest "Seriously, it was a compliment. Nothing malicious about it"

Minato shrugged his shoulders "Fair enough. So, anything I should know about my new school or are you going to be through me into the deep end?"

Aika enjoyed the change of subject and smirked "Well~ It was an all girls school until recently, meaning there's a lot more girls than guys around. Heck, with someone like you I think you could even get your own harem and keep them all satisfied" Aika's eyes widen as she realized what she just said "I mean happy, I meant to say happy at the end there"

Minato nodded "Of course, we all have a slip of the tongue every once in a while"

Arriving at the school gates Minato took a moment to look at the school building. Kuoh seems to rival Gekkoukan high in size, with the major difference being that Kuoh's buildings were built in a more classical style to Gekkoukan's modern design.

Aika grabbed Minato's hand and pulled him with her to the school building "Come on, otherwise you'll be late on your first day"

Aika did little to hide her smile as a few people turned to look at her rush Minato into the school building.

A nostalgic smile graced Minato's lips '_I'm going to have to deal with rumors on the first day of school again, aren't I_'

* * *

Ophis used the items given to her by one of the maids to commit onto paper her eventual triumph over Great Red, or to be more accurate she was doodling herself standing on top of a beaten Great Red using coloring pencils and a sketch pad all the rooms had.

Ophis looked up at the clock on the wall, seeing it nearing the time for Minato to return from school, getting up she ripped the paper to pieces before disposing them into a nearby bin. Heading down stairs she took a seat in the employee kitchen and began to help herself to the delicacies on offer, Ophis savored each mouthful of cookies on offer despite the sounds of a crowded cafe.

She kept her eyes focused on a television on the wall, she wasn't the least bit interested but it was preferable to her 'staring off into space' as Mr and Mrs Nakajima put it.

Hearing a door open Ophis turned to see Minato enter through the employee entrance, his bag slung over his shoulder with his earphones hanging around his neck "I'm back"

"Welcome" Ophis said as she chewed on a cookie "How was your day?"

"Pretty good, all things considered" Minato said as he sat down with Ophis "Had a rumor about me starting up but I doubt it'll last long, saw there was an opening on the male kendo team and thinking of getting back into the sport. Saw several devils attending but they bare no malicious intent, oddly enough." he frowned as his hands drifted to his headphones "Got a warning from someone from the student council about listening to music during school hours, but other than that it's been a good day. How about yours?"

"Alright" Ophis said, her eyes focused on Minato's headphones "Does not being able to listen to your music trouble you?"

Minato was a silent for a moment "Not really, it's more of the idea of them confiscating them I have an issue with"

Ophis examined Minato, seeing that having his MP3 troubled him, she decided to ask something that has been on her mind of late "why do you like music so much?"

He was caught off by the sudden question, still he answered her as best he could "I've always liked music, it became a source of comfort for me most of my life, and it let me block out the world for a time"

Minato's mind went back to the time after the Moonlight Bridge Incident and before transferring to Gekkoukan high. What was once a joy for him became a means of retreat from the rest of the world as he used music to block out the noises of the world, especially during trips into the city.

Back then even the deathly silence of the Dark Hour was preferred over the loud noises of the city, even when that silence was broken by the screaming of those unlucky enough to be pulled into the Dark Hour without Personas.

Ophis focused on his words of 'blocking out the world', she wished to regain the silence of the Dimensional Gap but due to how long it was taking she became more tolerant of the noises of the human world. However, using music to block out the more annoying noises was not an option she had considered before.

Making her decision she looked up to Minato.

"I haven't paid any attention to music before, I want to try listening to some"

Minato nodded, he could share with Ophis the music he had on his MP3 and what else he found with this world's music. He had a sizable amount saved up from work already so it was possible to get her an MP3 and headphones, could even make a day of it.

It was always nice to have someone to share music with.

Over the following nights Minato and Ophis would listen to whatever songs they could try out, often staying up late into the night listening to the music channels at what were the current releases and searching the internet for sample tracks.

When Sunday came around Minato and Ophis went to the store and bought a new MP3 for Ophis with all the music she'd selected, she took Minato's advice and made a list of all the songs she found preferable.

Alongside them came a girl that worked with Minato at the cafe, Satou Matsuzaka, a young lady who seemed as sweet as her appearance was. She joined them after overhearing their plans and remembering she needed some things from the store as well, the three went about collecting what they needed with Minato explaining to Ophis customs she was unfamiliar with while Satou snuck glances at Minato and took whatever chance she had to get close to him.

As they walked home to the cafe, Satou having been living at the apartments already when Minato moved in, Minato met the gaze of a man walking past them.

The bloodlust was clear in his eyes, Minato could practically smell it radiating off of him.

They kept eye contact as they passed each other, Minato could feel the man's gaze on his back as they continued down the road. When they turned the corner, with the cafe in sight, Minato stopped and handed the bags he was carrying to Ophis and Satou.

Minato gave the two an apologetic look "Sorry, can you two carrying everything the rest of the way, I need to go on my nightly run. Have to keep up the nightly routine" Minato turned around and ran back the way they came with a particular Persona coming to the forefront of his mind.

That amount of bloodlust coming from someone with traces of Siegfried's power could not lead to anything good.

* * *

"You're not worried about Minato" Satou asked Ophis as she watched him run after the dangerous man they had passed by, Satou's eyes drifted to the bag she always carried with herself.

"He's strong, he won't go down easily" Ophis answered, her voice void of concern.

After all, the power he held far out striped that of an Exorcist.

Ophis turned to walk back to the cafe when Satou put her shopping bags on the ground "Sorry, Phis. Can you bring these back, I need to make sure he doesn't get hurt"

Ophis gave Satou a blank look as she ran after Minato, she collected the bags and returned to the cafe with them.

Saying Mr and Mrs Nakajima were shocked little Phis came in carrying what was near her weight in shopping bags on her own would be an understatement.

* * *

Side Story: Sweet looking girl.

* * *

Satou Matsuzaka didn't pay any attention to Minato when the owners brought him over, merely thinking he was another homeless teen they could take in and help get him on his feet.

The Nakajima's were kind like that, the same kindness that offered her a place at their apartments after Mrs Nakajima found her standing outside her apartment complex in the rain. The offer to stay was available to everyone working at the cafe and all they needed to do was follow a few rules, rules that she happily followed if it meant she could move away from her aunt.

It wasn't until she spoke with him for the first time did she notice something different about Minato. He had this aura around him that she couldn't explain, something soft and warm that seemed to give comfort to others, his eyes sharp and focused while retaining that same gentleness.

She'd admit to coming to prefer working with him over the others at the cafe, no matter the customer the same gentleness remained.

Eventually she'd realize that Minato kindness and gentleness were genuine, something that made him shine with a type of purity Satou hadn't seen before.

A purity that she felt drawn to.

She began studying with Minato, saying she wanted to help him prepare for Kuoh Academy and then that she needed help with some subjects of her own. She picked the topics she wanted him to help her with carefully, to ensure that he didn't catch on she didn't really need the help.

She wasn't entirely sure when she started calling him senpai, it just felt natural.

She began spending time with him more, more than once when she went over to his room she would find him studying, listening to music, or performing various forms of yoga. She was surprised to find out her senpai knew yoga, he said an old friend got him into it and asked if she wanted to learn.

Satou said she'd think about it, she waited a day before telling him she would like to join, not wanting to sound too eager. When she found him crying one night she did her best to comfort him, only saying that the full moon held a lot of memories for him. Good memories and heartbreaking memories, he asked her to keep it between them as he didn't want to concern the others.

He started going out late at night for walks around the neighbourhood, seeming to disappear when he was out of people's line of sight. It was during one of these late night walks he brought back little Phis.

She still wasn't sure what to think of Phis, the little girl seemed indifferent to everything around her and stayed close to Minato whenever she had the chance. She even found Phis staring at Minato sleeping in the middle of the night.

No one saw anything wrong with it, believing Phis had gone through something truly terrible and clung to Minato as a form of coping.

She didn't like it, not at all. Satou knew there was something wrong with Phis, the fact they couldn't seem to find anything on her only confirming her suspicions.

And now, her senpai ran after a man who would kill them without a thought, both her senpai and the dangerous man were gone without a trace.

Eventually she found him with another man thanking him profusely for something, she didn't care as she saw her senpai was okay as she approached him. As she did she saw something that made her blood run cold and her vision go red, across her senpai's back was a slash back. Only cutting his clothes but coming so close to his skin.

The man was long gone, but Satou remembered his face.

She would make sure he wouldn't hurt her senpai again.

**Author's Note: So, yeah. There's a little cameo of Satou from Happy Sugar Life, with her being drawn to Minato's purity instead of a little Shio.**


	8. MessiahXDragon: Save a Soul

**Author's Notes: Well, got more positive feedback from Satou making a guest appearance then I thought. So let me make something clear before moving forward.**

**Satou has no major role in these snippets, she's a normal human who happens to have an obsession with purity/love willingly to lie, cheat, manipulate and kill to get what she wants. No Sacred Gears, no hidden lineage, no secret power. She can be a credible threat to any regular person off the street but not to any supernatural beings or those with training under their belts.**

**Satou's role would have been like Aika in the series, a normal human character with no knowledge of the supernatural.**

**BUT, due to the feedback I've decided she'll have a larger role with something I have planned later on. Nothing big but more then 'random cameo'**

**And with that out of the way, on with the show.**

Minato sidestepped the sword of light and lashed out with a sword of ice sprouting from his fist, the battle manic exorcist as he barely dodged it and moved in with a leg sweep, jumping back to get some distance Minato held up his arms as he stood opposed the battle manic in front of him.

When he followed the man who carried Siegfried's power, Freed as he introduced himself, he was not expecting the man to break into a house where a demon summoning was taking place.

If he had even a moment's hesitation the summoner behind him would either be dead or missing parts of his body, Minato raised his ice covered hand to look behind him at the summoner to see him still where he was a few minutes ago. Frozen on the spot in the hallway as he watched them fight, Minato very much wanted to tell the man to run but he couldn't risk Freed's attention falling to the man again, if he could use his evoker things would be some much easier.

"Gotta say, your REALLY putting up more of a fight then that whimpering heretic" Freed said with a toothy smile "I can see us going all night long till dawn, I would be really disappointed if you died on me before morning" Freed leaned forward "Heck, if that happens maybe I'll entertain myself with those girls you were with"

Ourborous snorted in Minato's mind, Ophis could erase the battle maniac from existence if she felt like it. Satou, on the other hand, was a much more debatable situation.

Charging forward the flames in his left hand grew and solidified into a sword made of flames, flame met light as the two were locked in combat with neither giving ground.

_*Ding-dung*_

The two combatants, and the sole onlooker, paused and slowly turned to look at the door.

"Did someone just rang the doorbell-ack!"

Freed's words were cut short as Minato used his right hand to deliver an ice punch to the man, causing ice to form around Freed's body, sending him flying into the wall behind him. Minato kept an eye on Freed as he laid on the floor, only turning away when whoever rang the doorbell came in whose presence was a mix of Demon and Dragon.

Beside the homeowner/summoner was a young man with brown hair and eyes, though the most eye-catching thing about the new arrival was the Kuoh Academy male uniform he was wearing.

"Wait a minute, you're that pretty boy Aika brought to school!?"

"You know Aika?" Minato asked, caught off guard that he knew Aika "What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I'm here to fulfill a contract. What the heck happened here, and why is my summoner in shock!? the brown haired demon asked Minato, looking behind him to see a ruined room filled with slashed up walls with parts of the walls scorched or frozen over.

"What happened to the other one?" the man half mumbled as he turned to the brown haired demon slowly.

Minato raised an eyebrow, he looked over demon for a minute before turning back to the magic circle inscribed onto a piece of paper and turning back to demon while he pointed the magic circle "If you're the demon he summoned, then why did you use the door instead of the summoning circle?"

While there were rituals to summon demons that required opening doors to let them in those didn't involve magic circles, magic circles usually acted as the point of entry. The summoning circle used was minimalistic and required only the barest amount of energy to act as a trigger to summon a demon, meaning there was very little chance there was a fault on the summoner's part.

The only other option was someone or something interrupted the summoning, or the demon in front of him had such little power that they couldn't complete their part.

Seeing the demon hesitate to answer a thought crossed Minato's mind.

"You're not suppressing your power, are you?" Minato asked.

The demon gave Minato a surprised look "Wait, I could do that?"

**_'How is he not dead yet?'_** demonic whispers echoed through Minato's mind along with the disapproving rumble of dragons.

A series of gunshots rang out.

Freed stood with his gun in one hand and his sword of light in another, his manic smile never leaving his face "Well, took you long enough. I've been waiting for you to show up Devil, though I'm not mad since I've having a hoot dancing with this guy here"

Minato faced Freed with his arm raised, the thick armor of ice around his forearm had grown into a shield with the ice armor spreading up his arm to his shoulder to cover his right shoulder blade and right side of his chest, the bullets intended for him either fell to the ground crushed or had been frozen in the ice before they were able to hit him.

The brown haired demon gripped the bullet wound to his leg, while most of the bullets aimed for him missed, one got him in his left leg above his knee. He let out a cry of pain as he felt the holy bullet stuck in his leg, the bullet burning him from the inside.

"Well, since we got ourselves a late arrival do you mind if I bring him in. Turn this missionary into a devil's three-"

"Issei!?"

Behind Freed a girl with blond hair and emerald eyes came into the room, her eyes focused on the Devil clutching his leg who returned her shocked expression with his own.

"Asia, what are you doing here?" the now named demon asked, his bullet ignored in favor of the girl before him.

W-What's happening here?" Asia asked with a shaking voice, looking over the wretched room.

"Merely doing our job. It's our duty to kill all devils" Freed pointed his sword of light to Issei for drifting it toward the still terrified man "And those who fall to them" Freed kept his gun pointed at Minato "...And I'm not sure what your doing here, I've been having too much fun to ask"

"Stopping a bloodthirsty battle maniac from killing innocent people"

"Defending those who fall to the devils then" Freed said with a manic glee "And, as an exorcist, it's my favorite part of this job to punish them"

"Wait, please stop!" Asia called out, standing between Freed and Issei "Please, don't hurt them!"

"You little bitch" Freed said as he swung his sword towards Asia, missing when a blast of ice from Minato caused him to completely miss. Issei sprung to action and charged Freed as Asia backed away from the battle maniac, however he wasn't able to get far before a shot from Freed halted Issei's advance with a bullet to his left shoulder.

Freed leapt into the air for a downward slash, aiming to cut Issei in two, while still airborne Minato rushed to Issei's defense by standing between him and Freed and jumping to intercept the attack.

Everyone present barely had time to recognize a summoning circle appearing in front of Issei before a blonde boy appeared with a sword mid swing, a burst of flame to propel him out of reach of the sudden attack spared him most of the attack but the breeze he felt on his back told him that he had a night of sewing ahead of him. Looking over he saw a group of Devils step out of the summoning circle around Issei, one tending to Issei while three others stared both he and Freed down.

"Stupid bitch, did you even set up a barrier?!" Freed roared angrily, gritting his teeth he let out a dark smile "While I'm not opposed to making this three way into a gang bang I know my limits, so I'll need some backup"

No sooner had he said those words did a portal manifest above him, tainted light was radiating from the portal as he connected the house to somewhere else.

Fallen Angels.

"Hey, pretty boy!" Minato spared a glance to the Devils to see them leaving, Issei being carried over the shoulder of the smallest Devil among them "You have to keep Asia safe, please don't let anything happen to her"

"Wasn't planning on it!" Minato answered as he took in a deep breath, using a trick the Seiten Taisei Sun Wukong made sure he picked up.

Slamming his fists together Minato creates a cloud of mist, hiding him from view of everyone present, shooting forward at greater speed then he had shown before he struck Freed in his solar plexus with a fist of flames.

"Hee"

That punch was quickly followed by an ice punch, extinguishing the flames that had begun to burn and freezing the burnt area over.

"Ho"

The punches kept flying as Freed was rapidly set ablaze and frozen over depending on which fist was used to punch, slowly the man was airborne as the barrage of fists kept him up.

"Hee. Ho. Hee. Ho"

Bringing his hands together he slammed both fists into Freed, exclaiming "Heeho!", as Freed soared into the portal and seemed to have crashed into someone else the other side. From the same portal came two fallen angels with spears of light in hand.

One appearing as a young girl with blonde hair wearing a gothic dress while the other a man in a trench coat with a hat covering his eyes, the man hurled a light spear at the homeowner/summoner who still hadn't moved from his spot against the hallway wall.

Minato moved to block the light spear attack, as he did the male fallen angel rushed forward with the spear of light being wielded as a sword.

"This whole thing is more trouble than it's worth!" The gothic girl cried out as she pulled Asia to the portal, Asia let out a loud ow as she was lifted into the air.

"Be gentle with her, otherwise Raynare is going to have our-" man's sentence was cut short as a ball of flame exploded behind his back causing his wings to catch on fire, several beats of his wings were enough to extinguish the flames, the distraction was enough Minato was able to land a solid hit on the fallen angel.

Reeling back the fallen angel hurled several light spears with more than a few aimed at the defenseless man Minato had been protecting, with that distraction the fallen angel fled into the portal where his counterpart had already used to escape with Asia.

He kept his guard up for a minute until he was certain they were gone. Deciding on what he had to do next he made plans to track down the fallen angels wherever they may be and help Asia, but for now he had another person to look after.

Kneeling down he shook the man to try and help him come to his senses, eventually the man came to and gave Minato a blank look.

"What happened just now?"

Turns out the man had suppressed the memories after Minato had barged in and stopped Freed from killing the man, he thanked Minato profusely and with Satou's arrival gave him a chance to leave but not before recommending the man stay somewhere else for a few days.

Returning to the cafe, and receiving a scolding from Mrs Nakajima about running off and leaving Phis on her own to take the bags, Minato turned his attention to tracking down the fallen angels.

Using both Personas and different means of divination he was able to learn about the well being of Asia, and while nothing definitive, knew something terrible would befall her soon.

With aid from Juno and other Personas capable of being navigators they quickly pinpointed where the fallen angels would be, and hopefully Asia with them. An old church.

When the sun lowered itself beyond the horizon the following day, Minato stood with his Evoker to his head surrounded by exorcists who had fallen out of favor with the church with angels who had fallen from grace overhead with an innocent former nun looking on in horror as she was bound to a cross.

The sound of glass shattering was the only warning given before holy light washed over all.

* * *

"Why did you let them take her?"

Ophis asked as she watched from a top a building the devil with the welsh dragon's power take the nun Minato went out of his way to save from the fallen angels, fallen angels the Archangel he summoned defeated and transported them elsewhere.

"Not them, Issei" Minato answered as he sat beside Ophis "Besides, there wasn't anything I could do. Given the choice Asia wanted to stay with Issei, I couldn't really force the matter"

"And if they do harm onto her like the fallen angels planned?" Ophis asked, glancing over to see him beginning to raise his 'Evoker' once more.

"There's no malicious intent among them, coupled with the blessings keeping her protected along with translating everything, she should be safe. Still" with that word hanging in the air Minato used his Evoker to call forth another Persona.

What came forth was easily the smallest Persona summoned Ophis has seen, it flew around both her and Minato's head before stopping inches from his face. After a silence conversation between them the small fairy flew off with a pout after the inheritor of the welsh dragon's power and the nun Asia.

"Better to be safe than sorry, if nothing else Pixie will help them if any of the former exorcists get any ideas of vengeance" turning to Ophis he could tell what she wanted to ask him "I let most of them go due to how they were all caught up in one bad situation or another, so I give them what their superior didn't, a second chance"

"Sadly, there are a few who must earn their second chance" behind Minato, an Archangel form into existence, long brown hair blowing in the wind with a staff in hand.

Phanuel gave Ophis a small smile "The fallen angels Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, Mittelt and Raynare have been sent off on their pilgrimages. Though I have more hope on those exorcists placed into their spirit journeys to find redemption"

Not sooner had Phanuel said those words did they see one of the many spared exorcists carrying another unconscious exorcist through small back alleyways and into a waiting car, placing their companion into the car carefully, they both entered and drove off.

"I can only hope they awaken as better people" Minato said as Phanuel receded back into the Sea of Souls.

"The devils at your school are going to have their eyes on you after this" Ophis warned Minato, turning to gauge his expression. "Don't join them"

He shrugged "I have no intention to, I was bound to run into them eventually, I already have a plan in mind on how to handle them. Let's head back, we're having Tarte Tatin tonight"

Ophis eyes shined for a moment before they were inside Minato's room the next moment, Ophis left the room as Minato readjusted to the sudden shift.

"Still not used to sudden teleportation"

The following morning as Minato entered the front gate of Kuoh Academy he could feel himself being watched, he made sure not to react or let on he knew he was being watched.

He let Aika know that he would be late as he had something to do after school, after some little teasing she nodded and would let her grandparents know he'd be late to work.

He was expecting them to approach at some point during the day but it wasn't until the end of classes did a familiar blonde enter his classroom looking for him, after exchanging some pleasantries and introduction Minato followed Kiba to the clubroom of Kuoh's own Occult Research Club located in one of the older buildings around the school that wasn't used for much else.

Entering a dark room with little lighting Minato found himself in a room filled with Devils, with Minato as the sole focus of their attention.

Minato politely greeted them all as he took the seat they offered, one across from a Devil with a mix of Gremory's and Bael's power and another with Sitri's power.

Thus began the first meeting between Minato, the ORC, and Kuoh Academy's Student Council.

* * *

After a long hour Minato made his way back to the cafe to begin his shift at work, knowing he'll need to work overtime to make up for what he's missed.

As he walked down the street he saw someone blocking his path down the empty street, he was able to make out many details about who stood in front of him other than the drill curls their hair was in.

A barrier manifested around them giving Minato the chance to make out more details of the stranger before him.

"Minato Arisato, I've been waiting to have a word with you for some time now" with those words large monsters charge from behind the drill haired girl and pounce onto Minato before the mysterious girl has a chance to finish her sentence.

The large canine like creatures wasted no time on what they had planned, merciless in their pursuit Minato was forced to the ground.

"Hey! Stop that you two, get off him now!" the girl ordered, the two canine monsters whined as they stopped their affectionate licking and sat down beside Minato. Minato, for his part, gave both dog monsters a scratch behind the ears.

"Ahem, sorry about that, let's start over. I am Kiyome Abe, third year at Kuoh, and I believe you had an encounter with one of the monsters I'm taming" the girl said, fixing her long brown hair as she did so with one arm under her chest.

"Minato Arisato, fellow third year, and I'm afraid you'll need to be more specific" Minato said as he got up "I've had a long week"

Elsewhere the heir of two Devil houses sat over a cup of tea as they reviewed the information they had with an unknown in their shared territory.

"A transfer student studying to become a doctor in medicine and psychology" Sona Sitri read aloud as she looked over her notes, looking up to Rias Gremory she saw her friend had a concerned look "You still believe he's a part of the Church?"

Rias shook her head "He works with them in some fashion, I believe. Perhaps a mercenary sent to recover Asia and bring her back to them"

"Still, if that were the cause why let her stay with Issei" Sona shook her head "Best we keep an eye on him and not make assumptions for now, other than him not holding a grudge for you knight attacking from behind"

* * *

Side Story: Three former Priests meet the Police

Two exorcists panted heavily as they took a minute to catch their breath, between them laid a third completely unconscious.

"Okay, I know we've been running for several minutes but where are we heading to?" one of the two conscious exorcists asked as he looked at the area they were in, they were out of the residential area of Kuoh Town and found themselves near the main street of the commercial area. The area was quiet with the exception of some clearly drunk individuals.

"Anywhere but back there, definitely leaving this devil territory all together" looking behind himself at something that was there "Nero. That was a Archangel"

"No shit, Sherlock" Nero said softly to himself, placing his right hand into one of his pockets "He defeated the fallen and put a handful of our own into a deep sleep, letting the rest of us go after hugging that Asia girl" with a scowl Nero turned to look at their sleeping charge "Why did you grab Freed anyway? Last time I checked you two weren't friends"

"Believe me, if I didn't find the act wrong I'd have shot him in sleep already" Sherlock whispered as his hand hovered over his pistol "But this a trail given unto him by an Archangel, and by extension God, so it appeared right that I took his body somewhere safe"

Nero took his hand out of his pocket, revealing the rosary he was holding "Huh, thought you took him out of fear of the Devils turning him into a weapon. Isn't Freed some form of super soldier, a lab experiment zealots made to hunt devils"

"No" Sherlock said firmly "Though I'm not sure entirely, I believe he was a test tube baby the Norse Faction created in the hopes of making a worthy descendant to one of their Heroes" looking up and down the street Sherlock pointed to Freed as he spoke to Nero "Keep an eye on him, I'm going to get us a taxi to get us out of here"

Sherlock went out to try and find a taxi, not finding any physically near he was able to call one from a payphone a block away from where he left Freed and Nero. When he returned he found several police officers standing over Freed, when Nero spotted Sherlock he held a disgusted expression as he gestured for Sherlock to come over.

As he did, Nero pointed to Freed "You not going to like what's he's been up to"

An hour later, the two former exorcists found themselves waiting at a hospital with police keeping an eye on them from afar.

"Assault on a 15 year schoolgirl" Sherlock held his head in his hands, muttering in a defeated tone "I thought he would be above that, I don't why I thought maybe I just wanted to believe it"

"At least he's being transferred to neutral territory, so that's one issue dealt with" Nero said as he held onto his rosary.

The two of them waited to learn where Freed was being transferred to, other then Freed dying for a couple of minutes from what was suspected to be attempted murder by injection, nothing really happened.

"Guess there's credit to the idea of Freed being some failed experiment, any normal man would have died from what the doctors suspect" Sherlock said as he looked out the window, his voice barely a whisper.

"Or, maybe, the Archangel that deemed us worthy of a second chance will not allow those under trial to fail due to outside influence so easily" Nero said with a whisper, spotting a map of Japan he went over to grab it.

Elsewhere, a smiling Satou walked down the street. Her bag emptied of medical supplies and securely disposed of.

The man who threatened her senpai was dead with no evidence connecting her to the murder, now her mind was focused on her plans for the rest of the night.

**Author's Note: For context on what happened, to those who couldn't figure it out. Satou went to the police and falsely claimed she was assaulted by Freed. When they found Freed unconscious they asked Satou to come in to confirm and when they weren't looking attempted to kill Freed, she left before they had revived him.**

* * *

Omake: The Dragon Empresses and Messiah

**Author's Notes: For Context, beyond the obvious AU elements, in this version Minato has been attending Kuoh longer. Transferring in the middle of the previous year before starting his third year. All other elements are the same.**

Minato had been attending Kuoh Academy for some time now and, much to his dismay, gained something of a fan following among some of the students. He even has had several girls, and a few guys, confusing their feelings for him. He tried to be gentle with them, but most of the people he barely knew at best rejected a hand of friendship instead of a deep dive into a committed relationship.

But, this one was different.

"Please make a harem with me!"

An underclassmen of his, a second year girl with big soulful brown eyes and long brown hair that reached her hips, hadn't made a heartfelt confession. At least, not in the way he was expecting.

"Can you repeat that? I'm sorry, it's just think I misheard you" Minato asked kindly, barely believing the girl in front of him asking him to.

"Make a harem with me!"

To make a harem. Yeah, she was asking that.

That was how Minato met Rise Hyoudou for the first time, though he didn't take her up on her offer to make a harem. She was happy to be friends, the two of them hang out a few times a week with Aika joining them with her own brand of perverted teasing to keep things interesting.

Everything seemed to be going well, and then all of a sudden Fallen Angels tried to kill Rise leading both Rise and Minato to team up to defeat them while Rise rescued a captive nun with her newly Awakened Boosted Gear. Afterwards they had a meeting with two male devils claiming to be in charge of the local territory which was all of Kuoh Town.

Things seemed to snowball to where Minato was now, caught between Rise and her rival Valerie with each of them holding onto one of his arms. To make matters worse no one was helping him, Ophis herself had decided to just climb onto his back during the glaring match between the Dragon Empresses.

**Author Note: **

**If you want a better visual of Fem!Issei and Fem!Vali then look up Fate's Jeanne d'Arc (Alter) for Vali.**

**Fem!Issei has a cute piece of fanart, problem it the particular piece I'm referring to is a bit tricky to find, go to google image and you should find two instance of it [one is used for something on wattpad while another is connected to aminoapps]**


	9. MessiahXDragon: Devil Tamer

"Beast Tamer?" Minato asked as the large dogs that enthusiastically greeted yesterday laid down on the grass besides them in the park.

Kiyome nodded as she sat beside Minato on a park bench "Yes, pretty self explanatory. A Beast Tamer helps other beings attain new strength in a mutually beneficial relationship, helping them attain new skills while keeping the Tamer safe" Kiyome turned to Minato and meeting his gaze knew what he was going to ask "While not exact, yes, it's like that franchise"

"How do you train them?"

Minato grew more curious as he talked to Kiyome, while he did indeed have an idea of how many monsters acted he never gave it much thought about how to train them. Still, there was a strong desire to learn how to train monsters to make them more effective, he couldn't quite place the reason why. Almost as if Beast Taming was something Minato would have been involved with in another life.

Kiyome turned to the dogs to see them rolling around in the grass, she smiled as she turned back to Minato "It can be challenging, you need to have a firm grasp of each individual to make sure they get the most out of training. Can't teach a lamia to play tennis the same way as a harpy"

Minato blinked, caught off guard by Kiyome's answer "That's a very specific sport to mention"

Kiyome smiled, knowing Minato was curious.

The following day Minato found himself at a tennis court wearing the Kuoh Academy tracksuit watching several different monsters playing against each other in tennis, each monster using their own advantages to overcome their weaknesses in the sport whether its with a lamia using their more bendable bodies or harpies using their flight while holding the racket with their talons.

"This is very impressive, I've never seen anything like it before" Minato said, his astonishment clear in his voice. Tennis required a great deal of effort to be good at like any other sport, but getting to the skill he was seeing now for a sport that wasn't designed with their different physiologies in mind spoke volumes of Kiyome skills as a Tamer and her monsters.

Kiyome allowed herself to smile with pride, unlike Minato she wore the more official white shirt and skirt for tennis, her eyes roaming over the current players to make sure they were alright "Thank you, not a lot of other Tamers teach their charges how to play sports but seeing all the effort they've all put in makes the long hours of training worth it"

After all the friendly matches were over all of Kiyome's monsters took several minutes to rest, everyone getting the chance to sit down to have a snack, as they did Minato and Kiyome continued talking until Minato brought up a topic he's been meaning to ask for a while.

"What are your methods exactly?"

"Trade secret, I'm afraid. I can't tell you" Kiyome said as she took a drink from her water bottle, as she did she gave Minato a side glance as something flashed across her eyes "Unless"

"Unless?" Minato raised an eyebrow, waiting for Kiyome to continue.

"Tell me, Minato. Would you say you have somewhat a grasp of what each individual monster of mine can do?" receiving a nod Kiyome stood with a smile, crossing her arms under her chest as she did so "Then what say you to a little test, pick out a team of three monsters here to face against a team of my own. If your team wins, or at least draws, against mine I'll take you on as my apprentice to teach you my secrets"

"And if I lose?" Minato asked, his eyes drifting over Kiyome's various monsters who were all looking at them overhearing Kiyome's words.

Kiyome placed a finger against her chin before a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes "If you lose, you have to dress as a maid and serve me for a day. Since this is your first time I'll pick my team first to give you a chance to counter it.

"Deal" Minato said resolutely as he stood up "I don't know why, but I have the oddest feeling of déjà vu when you were talking about being a Beast Tamer. Almost as if I was something similar in another life. As for the maid part" Minato shrugged "I already work in a maid outfit, at the odd time, at work"

Blinking in confusion, Kiyome took a step back in shock "Wait, you're forced to wear a maid outfit at work?"

"Not forced" Minato scratched his chin in embarrassment "I just have trouble saying no to the owners, that and I can pull the look off pretty well along with getting triple pay for the shifts I wear it"

Kiyome looked at Minato head to toe with an unreadable expression "I brought up the whole maid thing as something to motivate you with, but now I'm genuinely curious how'd you look in one"

"You could stop by Gentle Etiquette every once and awhile, I don't wear it often but I haven't gone two weeks without putting on a maid outfit" Minato suggested to his possible mentor, if for nothing else it'd help get more business for the cafe.

"Oh, I haven't been there in ages" Kiyome lit up at the mention of the cafe "Though, I suppose we can talk about it later after you defeat my team. Are you ready?"

With a nod the two picked out with Kiyome going first, however while her selection came over to her without a moment's hesitation those Minato picked were more reluctant.

Unprovoked, Minato began negotiating his picks.

A couple of minutes later, as the best of three tennis matches began, Kiyome gave Minato a blank look "You bribed them with coupons"

Minato turned to Kiyome with a blank expression of his own "I only bribed the yeti with 3.000 yen worth of coupons, the Hellhound I showed dominance with ear scratches and belly rubs while I only talked to the harpy"

"She's literally ready to adopt you as part of her family. Minato" Kiyome turned back to the tennis match with a smile on her face "You are a natural, I'll be sure to treat you well my student. How about we stop by Gentle Etiquette tomorrow to celebrate?"

"Tomorrow doesn't really work for me, I'm going to look for a new apartment tomorrow and one of them is near the mountains" Minato answered, he came across the listing for the apartment to rent last week and planned the visit soon after. It was a bit out of the way but due to a mixture of bad luck finding other apartments and the cheap price it was his best option so far.

"Really? Where would it be if you don't mind me asking?" Kiyome asked, curious.

Minato answered her, Kiyome furrowed her brows in concern.

* * *

_'I've heard that place is cursed, while I haven't heard anything beyond the odd rumor it's better to be safe than sorry'_

Kiyome's words passed through Minato's mind as he looked at the address listed for the apartment to rent, the building seemed to be an old estate with an additional floor added onto it with some attempt made to make the whole place look aesthetically consistent.

"You're not going to move here," Ophis said as she looked over the building, frowning slightly at the ugly walls of the building. She went with Minato to all the apartments he had visited thus far, with minimal difficulties in the process, she still needed to keep a close eye on him to ensure his loyalty and that meant moving with him.

That, and she had grown used to Minato making her breakfast.

"No. I'm going to check this place to make sure nothing fishy is happening here, what happens afterwards depends on what I find" with those words Minato approached the building and rang the doorbell, Ophis followed after looking up to one of the higher levels to see a shadow person standing at a window.

The front door was opened by an old man with long grey hair reaching his shoulders and a long beard reaching his stomach, he looked at Minato with a blank look as he pulled on the suit jacket too large for him.

"Ah, you must be the young man here to see the room" he looked down to see Ophis, his expression unchanging beyond a slight twitch in his left eye "I see you brought a little friend with you, come along we don't have all day"

The old man stepped further inside giving Minato a chance to follow him inside, the house looked like it had gone under some renovation in the last few years

"Here is the main lounge, it's communal so feel free to have any guests wait here and not wander the residents. I'll show you the kitchen over here"

"Sir, there is something I need to ask right away" Minato asked as he stood in the hallway. The old man turned around and gave Minato a nod to continue "What of the human spirits here?"

The man's eyes widen slightly, just about maintaining his composure "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"The spirits of the deceased that linger here, what do you know of them?" Minato looked over to the nearby stairs and kept his eyes locked on it "And how do they haunt this place?"

"I can assure you young man, there are no spirits lingering in this home" The old man said defensively, his eyes quickly looked over to Ophis for a moment before turning his gaze back to Minato with an aggressive look and a plan forming in his mind.

Without uttering a word Minato let out a deep breath, as he did the air seemed to become noticeably heavier as a figure began to take shape at the stairs.

A woman wearing a white suit stained red with blood stood on the stairs, her features sunken as black voids where her eyes should have been looked towards Minato with blackened tears streaking down her cheeks.

"You, you aren't being held here on your own" the ghoulish specter lunged towards Minato, long bony hands reaching out to him but never reaching him as an unseen force kept the spirit in place "No. Instead of something internal, an external force chains you here"

Lifting his palm to the spirit light begins to spread across it's being as Minato touches it's forehead, the spirit thrashed about to resist but in the end welcomed the light.

The spirit before them now changed, appearing more as it had in life then in it's death. The woman's spirit offered Minato a smile as she closed her tired eyes, she faded from view just as quickly as she appeared.

"What, what did you do?"

"I freed a soul chained here by a malevolent force" Minato answered, his voice gaining a slight edge to it as he turned to the old man once more "Now, what do you know of the malevolent force here?"

"She's not malevolent. She's in pain and" The man spoke quickly before his words were cut off as the entire building began to shake as an inhuman scream could be heard, neither Mianto nor Ophis were faze in the slightest as Minato stepped closer to Ophis releasing a pulse of power to repel the power of the house from touching them.

"I don't know what you are; but, as a dear friend of mine would say, let's skip to the main event"

With those words the house twists and warps into a nightmarish mockery of what it was before, large holes dotted the walls and floor as blood dripped from the walls and pooled on the ground like water.

"What are you planning?" Ophis asked Minato, turning to face him fully "You can exorcist everything in one moment, so why?"

Minato nodded "While it would be easy, it doesn't mean it's the best path. There's no guarantee that all that spirits trapped by this curse would be freed if I did what amounts to exorcism nuking" bending down he gestured for Ophis to climb onto his back. Ophis gave Minato a confused look (?) "I'd feel more at ease if we kept together, chances are this place would try to split us up" accepting his reason Ophis climbed up and wrapped her arms around Minato's neck and her legs around his torso. Minato used his left arm to help steady Ophis before the two journeyed further into the curse house.

As they made their way further in they came across spirits trapped with some still living elsewhere in the world, among the trapped souls there were many chained together to form malicious monsters that could have been outright destroyed had Minato began blasting holy power along with the trapped souls. To avoid causing harm to the innocent Minato used a sword of light to cut away the bindings trapping the souls.

Eventually they find the old man again, standing between them and a terrified woman behind him. The old man spoke about protecting his wife as he held a gun towards Minato, Minato for his part focused on the thing behind the old man.

With a frown Minato drew upon Angel's power and fired several swords of light passed by the old man, as they flew the spirit of the man's wife slumped forward with her crying abruptly stopping. Looking upward Minato gave the source of the curse a glare.

"Get out here. No more using others as puppets"

The world itself seemed to shudder as cracks formed in the air that lead to a shadowy void, from the void a monster made from the fusion of animals and plants slithered out.

It gave one last defiant cry before meeting a swift end.

Once the monster was gone the house returned to normal, Ophis still on Minato's back as the old man held the specter of his wife.

Minato kept silent as the man held his wife, her smiling gently to him as she said they were the foul entity that had possessed her. Giving thanks she gave her husband a kiss before fading away.

It took awhile for the old man to calm down and explain his situation, quickly becoming clear that the creature that used his wife's ghost as a puppet used him to draw in more innocent people to feed it. After a while of talking and gaining help from some of the newly freed spirits Minato was able to convince the man he was a victim in all of this as well, and that he could atone and try to find peace in his life before his own time came.

From the moment they arrived to them leaving it only took an hour and a half to deal with the situation, with the curse and monster only taking a little over thirty minutes and hour spent helping the old man get back on his feet.

Walking down the dirt path that led to the house Minato took his mobile phone out of his pocket to call a taxi, before he dialed Minato angled his head to get a look at Ophis who was still riding him.

"You know you can get down now"

"I know. I don't want to"

Minato paused for a moment as he thought the situation over for a moment, looking down the road to Kuoh Town and doing a small math in his head he held out his phone.

"If I call a taxi you will need to get off, or would you prefer I carry you back on foot" Minato angled his head so he could look at Ophis "I don't mind either option, so pick what you want"

Ophis ended up deciding to take the taxi back, though she didn't move until it had arrived, they arrived back at Gentle Etiquette sooner than anyone had expected. Minato and Ophis gave similar responses to what they had about the other places Minato had checked out, with the only real difference that Ophis mentioned that Minato helped the old man with some personal problems.

* * *

The following day Minato checked in with Kiyome.

* * *

Kiyome looked at Minato with a shocked expression "You did what?!"

"I exorcised a malevolent spirit from the house" Minato answered as he held his tennis racket at his side, using his free arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead using the sleeve of his tracksuit.

Kiyome began the next part of his training to become a Beast Tamer by giving him several books and told to research several monsters, research and information gathering being a cornerstone for all Beast Tamers. Not wanting to leave Minato with a short lesson, Kiyome offered to train Minato in tennis as a bonding exercise between Master and Student, and if she got a new member for the tennis club then that was merely a nice bonus.

Kiyome frowned "Minato, while I'll admit everything turned out well you should have left the house and told me" she crossed her arms "Do you have any idea how dangerous it can be going up against a spirit that claims land as it's domain alone?"

Walking over to Minato Kiyome looked him up and down with a stern eye before lightly grabbing his face and having him keep eye contact with her.

"Still, it looks like you're fine. No curse I can detect nor anything possessing you, still" Kiyome nodded to herself with her eyes closed "Right, I'll check the house out myself. If the place is clean it'll clear my conscience and if not we can finish the job" Kiyome opened her eyes as a thought crossed her mind "Wait, was there anyone else with you at that house?"

Minato looked to the side to see several of Kiyome's monsters gathered around one figure. "Phis was with me. Though if the malevolent force somehow survived you'd think it would latch onto the old man"

Kiyome looked to Ophis as she interacted with the monsters, mostly riding the bigger ones, Kiyome nodded "Right, the girl with dragon eyes. I doubt it would have latched onto her, even if she's extremely weak with no noticeable power dragon's and dragon hybrids usually have a resistance to possession" she gave Minato a curious side glance "Though, why did you bring Phis with you?"

Minatro shrugged "She wanted to come, I couldn't really stop her"

With a hum Kiyome turned back to look at Ophis, who was riding with the headless horseman "So it's safe to assume she wanted to see you train" Minato nodded "She'll need to come with us then, let's grab a quick snack before we head off. If we're quick we'll be able to get something from Gentle Etiquette afterwords"

As they went off to get changed into their regular clothes Minato saw a message on his phone from Satou, the message she sent caused him to raise an eyebrow.

_"There's an old man with a lawyer waiting for you at the cafe senpai, the old man is saying you helped him with something and wants to repay you. Do you know who they are?"_

After some texting it didn't take long for Minato to learn the old man was the same from the haunted house, letting Satou know the man was harmless as far as he knew, Minato went over to see what the old man wanted.

Out of everything he could think of, what the old man wanted was something Minato never thought of.

Kiyome looked around the interior of the formerly haunted house with an appreciating eye, Mr and Mrs Nakajima looked around commenting on the house and comparing it to one of their seasonal homes.

Minato looked down at the deed to the house and the paperwork that made him the new owner. The old man couldn't live here anymore after everything that happened and couldn't just let anyone move in without fear of history repeating itself, nor did he have the heart to abandon it either. In the end, he reasoned it made the most sense to give the house to someone who could handle it if history did in fact repeat.

"Kiyome"

"Hmm?"

"I really need to say no more"

It didn't take long to move things into Minato's new house due to him not having much to move and the house being fully furnished, meaning the next night Minato was fully moved into his new house. He stayed up all night to make sure nothing happened with Kiyome and Ophis sleeping in another room with Satou, over all everything seemed to be going well until he sensed something in the woods.

Minato left to begin his search of the devils he sensed, specifically two with one noticeably stronger then the other. Enhancing his speed with a Persona made the journey a quick one and as he found the two devils, looking between them made the stark contrast between the two hard not to notice.

One seemed humanoid curled up into a ball with a large more beastial creature repeatedly kicking them, hurling belittling remarks as they did so.

However, it wasn't just their appearances that were in stark contrast to one another but also the feeling they gave off. While the beast felt like a full devil the one on the ground wasn't entirely a devil, seemingly a mix between a demon and yokai like Koneko.

"Huh, who's there!?" The beastial demon turned away from their helpless target and turned to Minato, it's eyes glinting as it saw him. Malicious intent coming off in waves.

Minato outstretched his hand, drawing upon Yamata no Orochi's power to summon the two handed sword Kusanagi.

The beast charged, it never reached Minato as before evening reaching the halfway point razor sharp winds from the Kusanagi dismembered it. Minato kept an eye on the creature before moving over to examine the yokai demon hybrid curled on the ground.

"Please. Make it quick. I can't live like this anymore" the devil yokai whimpered, causing Minato to pause as he looked closer at it. As he did so something strange occurred.

He could see the entirety of the demon yokai, mind, body and soul. Allowing him to see there was something inside it turning the yokai into a demon. Acting on instinct Minato reached out to the suffering yokai before a flash of light washed over them both, when it faded the yokai was restored as Minato held five pawn chess pieces in his hand.

"Wha-what did you do?" the yokai asked with a confused stutter, sitting up to give Minato a chance to see the young boy's face.

Minato looked up from the pawns in his hand to the confused Nurarihyon, all he could offer him at the moment was his own thoughts.

"I don't know"

**Author's Note:**

**A little something with Minato becoming Kiyome's apprentice in Beast Taming, a bit of a nod towards the origins of Persona as a spin off of Megami Tensei, and Minato and Ophis going on a little adventure. Could they have finished the whole thing off in under a minute? Easily. But Minato wanted to save everyone he could and Ophis it as a chance to observe Minato work up close.**

**Next Chapter will deal with the arranged marriage event with Rias and start something I have plans for. **

Omake: Apartment Hunting

Had trouble putting together this Omake so this is the basic of what happens.

Kiyome talks to Minato about the other places he's searched for apartments.

The First place would be home to the titular character of Gabriel Dropout, during which Gabriel would openly use her angel powers and break her apartment door with a knocked out Satania, Minato turned it down due to high insurance. A second one putting him close to characters from Jashin-chan Dropkick/Dropkick on my devil, everything seemed to go well with Minato meeting Yurine Hanazono and being invited into her apartment to wait for the late realtor leading to Minato being the target of one of Jashin's many attempts to kill her college attending summoner with both Jashin and Yurine looking on in horror thinking Minato is about to be killed only for Jashin's attack to be reflected back on her with no apparent effort on Minato's part. After a quick run in with Pekora with Minato stealth healing her to help with her hunger and inadvertently regenerating her halo to restore her angel powers, Minato turns down the apartment due to the realtor being sleazy in using the Yurine and her friends as reasons for him to move in. The third would put him in the same building from Ms Kobayashi Dragon Maid (Minato turning the place down due to price and Ophis solo wrestling the dragons and winning with having Tohru pinned to the ground)

The last place would be Satou's former building where her aunt lives, that particular appointment was cancelled due to a sudden and unexplained fire in the room up for rent

**EDIT:25/10/2020**

Got around to actually finishing the Omake.

"Okay, follow my finger with your eyes"

Minato liked to think he was prepared for whatever he would come across, he was wrong as he wasn't expecting a Devil to come head first through the wall of the apartment he was checking.

At the minute he was with the devil girl in the room she was in when she got punted into it by the angel who the room belonged to, he was admittedly curious why two angels and two devils were in a single room together but that could wait till later.

Seeing the devil in question having no issue following his finger with her eyes he nodded "Okay, you don't seem concussed though I would recommend visiting the hospital to make sure" Minato turned to the other girls in the room "I don't suppose one of you could keep an eye on your friend"

"I'll do it!" an angel girl with long white hair said as she raised her hand, her cheery tone not reaching her eyes "Nurse Raphi, ready to treat and restrain the patient as needed~"

"What do you mean restrain!?" The devil girl Minato was treating, Satania, pulled back and placed Minato between her and Raphi.

"We'll keep an eye on Satania" the other devil in the room, Vignette, bowed her head "We're sorry for any trouble"

A polite devil with little to no evil in them, Minato was certain more than a few Personas were taken aback at the sight.

"By the way, what were you doing in that room?" the angel girl with long blonde hair, Gab, asked Minato point blank "I've never seen you around here before"

"I'm apartment hunting, that room there was up for rent and I came to check it out" Minato turns back to the wall with the very noticeable head size hole "Though, I'm not sure I'd be getting it"

"Ah, don't worry about it" Vignette smiled "The owners can make speedy repairs. I suspect it'll be fixed by the end of the day"

Minato blinked as he took a piece of paper out of his pocket "That reminds me, after the owner saw the hole in the wall they gave me a piece of paper. Apparently the price changed" Opening the paper Minato read through the print out and stiffened, seeing everyone's eyes on him he told them the contents of the letter "The insurance went up, I can't afford this place now"

Gab snatched the paper out of Minato's hand and looked at it in shock, falling to her knees as she read it as well.

"Well, I think it's best I don't overstay my welcome" Minato got up and said his farewells to the girls.

"Wait!" Satania cried out moments behind putting her hand to her face "You should do well to remember this day, for you have offered medical aid to the future queen of Hell!"

Minato took a moment to look over the expressions of the others, gathering that this was normal for the red headed devil Minato smile and gave her a mock bow "All I ask is you remember this lowly mortal on the day of your ascension, your majesty"

Satania, caught off guard and flustered, mumbled "I will and thank you"

===] MxD | Angel Dropout - Devil Dropkick [===

Minato checked the address on the building with the listing, walking onto the property he saw a girl wearing a gothic lolita dress with a medical eyepatch over her left eye.

"Hello" Minato called out to the girl to get her attention "Do you know where I can find the caretaker of these apartments, I'm here about seeing a room"

The girl nodded "Yeah, they're running late today and asked me to greet you" the girl said with a sigh "I'm supposed to keep you company until they arrive, which should be in a couple of minutes" she turned around to walk up the stairs to the second floor.

"I don't want to be a bother," Minato said, not wishing to intrude on the girl's day.

She turned around to Minato with little emotion in her voice "It's fine, I owe the caretaker a favor anyway so it's no real bother. Come on, there's some snacks in my apartment"

Following her upstairs the two made some quick introductions, Minato was surprised the girl he suspected of 8th Grade Syndrome was actually older than him and in college.

Being directed inside Minato sat down at the table as Yurine went to collect something, as he waited something leapt from beneath the floor from behind him.

"YOU DIE THIS TIME, YURINE!"

Turning his head slightly Minato saw a devil with the torso of a human, her dignity saved only by her long hair, with the lower half being that of a snake wielding an axe overhead as it was heading straight for Minato's head. The devil's wicked expression changed into one of confusion before morphing into shock.

Yurine watched on as she knew she didn't have enough time to save Minato, she looked on as the axe was millimeters from Minato before coming to a complete stop.

"Huh?" The shock turned back into confusion, the devil's expression not changing even as a geyser of blood sprung from her head at the same exact spot she would have hit Minato. The stream of blood was powerful enough to send the devil spinning across the room before slamming into the floor gripping their head "AHHH! WHAT HAPPENED!?"

Several minutes after the attempted murder Yurine explained to Minato that the devil who just rose from the floor was her devil familiar Jashin, a devil unable to return home due to Yurine missing the spell to send her back leaving the devil with the only option of killing Yurine.

Minato was willingly to banish Jashin back home, but after seeing the summoner and summon interact he realized Yurine had everything under control. That and withholding the chance for her to go home was his own little payback for attacking him, he'd offer help some other time if they meet again.

Minato sat down for some snacks with Yurine and Jashin, neither acting as if the devil was attempting murder not several minutes ago. Minato and Yurine made small talk, Minato talking about his last year of High School and Yurine talking about college. It wasn't long before some mutual of the two came over, questioning why a boy they had never seen before was doing in Yurine's apartment.

When the caretaker came back with the realtor, Minato said his goodbyes just as someone else sluggishly made their way in. A girl who Minato could see was malnourished, seeing little he could do at the moment he gave the girl a head pat to disguise him using healing to reverse the damage from her malnourishment. The girl was caught off guard and didn't do much until after Minato had finished and was already out the door.

The discussion with the realtor was unpleasant, to say the least, in the end Minato just walked away. A walk that became slightly more brisk as he walked into a crowd of people once he saw the malnourished girl from earlier with angel halo and wings searching for something or someone.

===] Double Drop | Dragons Abound [===

Minato sighed in defeat as he left the apartment showing early, another place out of his reach. Minato looked around and found Ophis was missing, using Ouroboros's power he was able to find her on the roof. What he saw was something he never would have expected to see.

Ophis was sitting on the back of a woman in a maid outfit with obvious dragon parts showing, Ophis maintained a solid hold on the maid dragon's legs as she held them in a lock.

Seeing Minato Ophis let the maid dragon go and walked over to him, ignoring the other dragons in human form around her, all knocked out. Minato quickly left with Ophis hoping not to cause a scene.

===]And here's the fire[===

Minato sighed deeply as he looked through the listings again, the Nakajima's made sure there was always the most recent listings for workers in the break room, hearing the door to the breakroom open Minato turned to see Satou coming in as she was talking off the head piece of her uniform.

"Is something wrong?" Satou asked the second her eyes landed on Minato.

Minato shook his head, offering Satou a gentle smile in return "Not really, I've just not had much luck with the apartment search recently. Though it's still early days so I'm not too concerned" he pointed to a particular listing, drawing Satou's attention to it "I'm checking out here next, it's not too far so it would be good for commute"

Satou looked at the listing and froze, her eyes fixated on the address as chill went up her spine, the listing was in her old apartment block. Where **_she_** lived.

Satou thought about her Aunt meeting Minato and in an instant she knew what needed to be done.

The next night, Minato stood with Satou as the apartment listed was alight with flames. The residences were thankfully all safe and the fire mostly contained with little chance of it spreading further, while repairs would be sorely needed the building would be usable.

Minato's shoulder slumped "If I did not know any better, I'd think I was cursed"

Satou patted Minato's back to comfort him, internally happy she was able to save her senpai from her Aunt. The quiet moment between the two came to an abrupt end as Minato's arm intercepted a steel pipe aiming for his head, Minato held the steel pipe with an iron grip as his would be attacker was shocked to see him catch the pipe at first and being unable to get it out of Minato's grasp.

Several police had seen the attack and rushed over, the man abandoning the pipe to Minato as he ran to try and get away. The man was quickly captured and taken away for questioning, Minato and Satou were questioned as well before being let go after handing over the steel pipe, Minato didn't know why the man tried to attack him and only learnt that he was an artist who lived in the apartment block on the same floor as the apartment up for rent.

===] The Great Unifier, Melon Bread [===

Taking a bite of melon bread Minato hummed. "Hmm, better than I thought" he took another bite to savor the taste as he shared the bag containing melon bread with Ophis, who seemed to be enjoying them herself.

"Wait!"

Hearing a loud cry Minato and Ophis turned to see a dog running with an unopened melon bread running away from a chasing Satania, Satania seems to have given up on the chase as she neared Minato and Ophis as they sat at a picnic table.

"Satania" Minato called out, the devil girl looking over to him surprised, holding up a bag of melon bread "We have extra if you want any?"

Satania looked conflicted, her eyes checking her surroundings before tenatively making her way over "Thank you" she mumbled before taking a bite of the melon bread, her face lighting up as she did.

"Oh! Mister!"

Looking off to the side Minato saw the malnourished angel girl he met at the apartment building the realtor tried to use Yurine and her friends as an 'incentive' to buy.

_"Strapping Young Lad surrounded by cute girls, don't tell me that isn't tempting"_ their words echo in Minato's mind, it was one of the few times he felt like punching someone in the nose.

_'Still, why am I encountering so many Angels and Devils recently?'_ MInato thought to himself as he ate melon bread with an Angel, Devil and Dragon.

**EDIT: 24/07/2020**

Okay, since I'm seeing some confusions in the reviews let me make this clear.

The Yokai at the end of this chapter is **NOT** Kuroka, rather it's a MALE Yokai OC known as a Nurarihyon. His situation is going to get more detail in the next chapter as it will continue directly from where this one left off.

Sorry to the Kuroka fans but your neko waifu is not making an appearance. _Yet_.


	10. MessiahXDragon: Prelude to the Storm

**Author's Note: Please read the notes at the bottom, I have some stuff written there as answers for possible questions after some confusion near the end of the previous chapter**

* * *

Picking up one of the pawn pieces that appeared in his hand Minato gave it a closer look to see it was made out of crystal, it was clearly magic in origin but seemed to have become inert.

He and the Nurarihyon boy had moved over to a fallen tree to figure out what was happening, Minato having to help the Yokai over due to them feeling fatigued. Minato glanced at the male Yokai to see he was doing better than before, after placing the pawn piece on the ground beside the four others Minato leaned against another tree as he faced the Nurarihyon.

"Right, I think it's best we go over what happened just now. I'm Minato Arisato, nice to meet you" Minato introduced himself to try and break the ice with the unknown Yokai.

"Um" The Yokai looked at Minato uncertain for a moment, he straightened his back and bowed his head "I'm Kenzou, just Kenzou. Thank you for freeing me from the Evil Pieces Mr Arisato, I am forever in your debt"

Minato glanced back to the area he came across Kenzou for a moment "If it isn't too much to ask, what were you doing here?"

Kensou flinched when Minato asked "We, we were to meet with a curse spirit that had overtaken a home nearby. I'm wasn't told the exact reasoning for why, I have had trouble keeping my sanity and experiencing intense pain for the past week with those Evil Pieces changing me" Kensou swallowed before he continued, mostly keeping the stutter out of his voice "I'm not sure what to call the change I was going through"

"Metamorphosis or mutation" Minato suggested for the young Yokai "They mean the same thing, change, though the context between them can be wildly different" the discussion between his many different Personas on the matter made that point rather clear "Do you know anything about the curse residents you were going to?"

Kenzou shook his head "No, I was in a barely functional daze"

Minato frowned "I see, because there's only one house I know about around here that was cursed and I just got finished cleansing it of evil" he looked around the forest with a cautious eye "I may need to search the local area to be sure"

Kenzou raised his head with his eyes wide with shock "There's, there's only supposed to be one house in the area. Are you a Priest?"

"No. I just have a lot of teachers" Minato ignored the chuckling from some of his Personas and focused on Kenzou "If you don't mind me asking, what led you to becoming a reincarnated devil?" Kenzou stiffened, refusing to meet Minato's gaze. The yokai was silent for a long moment "I understand if you want to keep that information to yourself, you don't need to say anything" Minato did his best to reassure the Yokai while he kicked himself, thinking up a means to backtrack the conversation away from Kenzou's past.

"I am, was the second son of a Yokai of some social rank" Kenzou said slowly, his voice low as he kept his eyes locked on the ground "That's mainly due to being Nurarihyon, descendents of the first Daiyokai, we hold some sway over other Yokai weaker or rivaling our own strength. There are means of enhancing this power and countering it but many never learn such things" Kenzou closed his eyes "I'm a particularly weak Nurarihyon, barely as strong as a normal untrained human, I heard more then once of whispers that had my father not been there for my birth or I not a spitting image of him in his younger years there would have been talks about switched children or unfaithfulness"

Minato walked over to sit beside Kenzou on the fallen tree, sitting for enough away to try and convey support and a respectful distance.

"I; I needed to get stronger and as if hearing my wish one day, SHE appeared" Kenzou tightened his grip on his knees "She offered to make me a Devil, to join Devil Society as part of her family to gain power and prestige so I wouldn't be a mark of shame for my family" Kenzou turned his head upwards with his eyes remaining closed "I'm such an idiot, I should have known it was a lie"

Minato was about to say something to reassure the yokai but held himself back, seeing tears streaming down Kenzou's face it wasn't long before he gave the abridged version of what he went through. Being treated as simple slaves, on the best of days, and suffering all manner of humiliation and torment.

"The only reason she even approached me was for the Nurarihyon ability to command lesser Yokai, screaming at me for 'wasting' her pawn pieces weekly if not daily when I couldn't control any powerful Yokai or get any political use, I'd be dead now if it wasn't for her Queen finally being able to kill our King" Kenzou spoke the word as if it was a curse, his voice dripping with venom and fear "We had become stray devils then and there, those of us who managed to avoid capture or death escaped back here when we began mutating"

An uneasy feeling passed over Minato, he looked back to the area he had killed the devil beating the Yokai "And the one with you earlier?"

"The Queen who killed the King" Kenzou said with a tired voice "They were just as bad as each other, we joked about one killing the other someday" he grimaced "Somehow, he got worse with the mutation"

"What can I do to help you?" Minato asked Kenzou, he gestured to the direction his new house was "You could stay with me for as long as you need, it's not much but it's better then nothing"

Kenzou gave Minato an uneasy look, inching away from him as he asked "You'd shelter a Stray Devil?"

"What Stray Devil? You're a Yokai, not a Devil"

Kenzou looked over to the pawn pieces on the ground before looking down to his hands, looking at them in a new light as the fact he was no longer a devil began to sink.

"Are you genuinely offering me a place in your home?" seeing Minato's nod Kenzou smiled weakly "I may never leave if I take you up on your offer"

"It's your choice to make, I can only offer help where I can" as he said this a part of him began planning on how he would explain bringing the Yokai back home with him.

"Thank you for your kindness" Kenzou stood up and turned to Minato, his smile more genuine "But, I'm afraid I can't accept. If I do I'd be running away from what I need to do, dreams of what I would do if I could be freed, starting with setting what I can right with my family"

Kenzou left soon after thanking Minato again, he stopped Kenzou from kowtowing, and making his way to his family's home in Kyoto, vowing to keep the miracle Minato performed a secret as best he could.

Standing alone in the forest Minato fixed his gaze to the Evil Pieces on the forest floor, he knew about them from his earlier meeting with the 'Occult Research Club' and asking Ophis what she knew about them, he understood the spoken and unspoken use for them was and the potential for abuse it could have.

It did little to quell the rage within him, his Personas shared his anger with Demons disgusted on how Kenzou's master went about bringing about another's fall. With an impassive look and an outstretched hand a blast of power struck the Evil Pieces destroying them along with a portion of the forest floor, he looked at his hand as he considered how different Bael's power felt.

In the trees a black serpent watched Minato and through it Ophis frowned.

* * *

Ophis ate her breakfast as she thought over the previous night's events, namely Minato being able to reverse the Evil Piece transformation. She had placed one of her snakes onto the former Devil that fled with the intent of tying up loose ends if the Yokai broke it's vow, still it did little to ease her concerns.

"So, Miss Abe, how did you and senpai meet?" Satou asked as she sat beside Minato at the table.

She'd openly admit to not being all knowing about matters in the various Realms, anything irrelevant to her goal of reclaiming the Dimensional Gap and defeating Great Red was either ignored or readily forgotten, but she knew more than Minato and was able to use that to be a trusted source of information.

"Oh, well I lost one of the dogs I've been taking care of for a relative and Minato helped it when it got injured" Kiyome said with a smile as she sat across from Minato with Ophis.

And she knew enough that having the ability to reverse Evil Piece Transformation was something many would fear and despise, it would be only a matter of time before others would begin searching for him and while sharing a common enemy could endear her to him it was not worth the risk.

Which of course brought another issue, that of others learning of Minato's power.

"It was nothing major" Minato said after finishing a mouthful of food "After that, the little pup led her to me and found out we're both third years at Kuoh Academy"

"Speaking of school I haven't seen you around at the Academy, Satou" Kiyome looked at the pink haired girl with a curious expression.

Ophis knew it was something new as she never came across a power quite like Minato's own, there were similarities to several Sacred Gears of varying strengths, and while she didn't fully understand it she knew others would think his power was from a Sacred Gear due to him never seeming to use traditional magic.

'_Hmm, that should be dealt with soon_' Ophis thought as she finished her breakfast.

"I don't attend Kuoh Academy I actually go to South Kuoh High School" Satou smile widened slightly as she glanced to Minato "If senpai hadn't began working at the same cafe as me I fear we never would have met"

"Gente Etiquette, right. Minato told me he lived in the dorms they have and I'm curious what the rooms are like, though judging by his plants" Kiyome looked over to a window to see several potted plants.

Once breakfast was over Kiyome left soon afterwards due to having to attend tennis club training, Satou left shortly after helping Minato with the dishes and promising to come back later that night to help him clean his new house properly.

Ophis turned to Minato with a blank look "We need to talk, now"

Minato looked away from the calendar on his phone, flipping it closed before he pocketed it "Is something the matter?"

"You reverted a reincarnated Devil's transformation, how?"

"To be honest, I didn't plan on doing it" Minato looked to his hand as a familiar green glow emanated from it "I saw they were suffering and I reached out to them, from that point on it was instinct that carried me through it, and when all was said and known the yokai was restored to their previous state" Minato frowned as he clenched his hand, the glow fading as he did so. While Dia and other such skills were used for healing it could be argued they were closer to restoration than healing, though he and SEES only really gave it more serious thought after Aigis had joined and all the healing skills worked just as well on her then anyone else.

"I see" Ophis frowned "There will be many Devils that will take offense that you are able to reverse Devil conversion, especially due to no such other method exists in the world to replicate it"

Minato's frown mirrored Ophis's own "I see, in that case we'll need to add other conversions as well. Because I'm confident this process is not limited to Devils, it may work on vampires, werebeast and other such beings"

"Hmm" Ophis nodded, her mind putting that piece of information and deciding to ask Minato if the process could work for other things "Regardless, you'd best not do that again lest those comfortable with the status quo target you"

Minato couldn't say yes, he couldn't abandon someone if they were suffering before him nor could he stand to break a promise to a friend. Instead, he chose the third path.

"I've been meaning to ask, is there any power in this world similar to the Power of Persona" Minato asked, Ophis gave him a puzzled look (?) "It's something I've been meaning to ask for some time, and your mention of how no other methods of reversing a conversion reminded me of it"

"...There are several that come to mind" Ophis sat back down at the table, Minato followed and sat across from her "There are a number of Creation and Avatar type Sacred Gears able to perform some aspect of what I've seen of your Persona power, if I didn't know any better I'd suspect you wielded a subspecies of the Longinus Sacred Gear Annihilation Maker"

"Longinus? As in the Spear of Destiny?"

Ophis nodded "Yes. It refers to a class of thirteen Sacred Gears able to kill Gods, the class of Sacred Gears was named after the Spear of Destiny. Due to this the Spear of Longinus is referred to as the True Longinus"

Minato frowned at Ophis words, thirteen special things were something a bit too close to him as it reminded him of the Moon Shadows, he put aside the naming convention of the items and pushed forward "So, I take it I'd draw a lot of attention if people thought I held a Longinus Sacred Gear"

"Kill or recruit, this is rarely a middle ground between the two. However" Ophis paused as she considered the idea of Minato being mistaken as a Sacred Gear user, specifically Annihilation Maker. She already held the current wielder among the Hero Faction and having others think Minato held Annihilation Maker will keep the true wielder hidden and disguise Minato's true power "Those who have ample experience with their Sacred Gear tend to be those offered the rare middle ground"

"Is a year considered enough for ample experience?" Ophis shrugged her shoulders, Minato leaned back into his chair "Well, either way I don't plan on sharing what I can do anytime soon" '_Partly because I'm still not certain what else has changed to my Persona ability_' Minato thought to himself before he spoke again "Besides, people tend to default to what they understand when confronted with something new or something they don't fully understand"

Ophis nodded at Minato's words, remembering how her early years outside the Dimensional Gap and how many assumed she was some random deity they knew of or held a connection with said random deity.

"That is something that needs to be addressed" Ophis said, moments before a fly flew into the room with Minato giving it a momentary glance before the fly became stuck on a spider's web located at the top corner of the room. Seeing the look on Minato's face he and Ophis shared a look that amounted to 'go ahead'

Getting up Minato took down the spider web with a sigh "It's going to take a while to get this place completely clean"

"Why not call upon a Persona connected to house keeping to handle it?"

Minato gave Ophis a blank look "I won't. It doesn't sit right with me to use my Personas for something so mundane or trivial" a slight sparkle came to his eye "I don't suppose there's magic spells designed around cleaning"

Ophis tilted her head (?) before nodding "I suspect there is, there has been more than a few lazy sorcerers that would develop such magic" Ophis considered her next words carefully "I may know where to find such books, though it will cost favors"

"Wish I knew some of that magic for myself at the minute" Minato could feel the Sea of Souls within him stirring for a moment before he looked down the hallway, he grimaced "There's a chance we might have missed something in one of the other rooms, some foul relic of this buildings cursed past, if Satou comes across it anything could happen"

"Your worried for her safety"

"Yeah, and she can be scary enough as is without being possessed or gaining dark powers" with a conflicted look on his face Minato retrieved his Evoker, he held it in his hands with a reluctant look.

Seeing this Ophis walked over to stand beside him "You need the Evoker to summon Personas, but the Evoker holds meaning that makes it hard to use outside of certain circumstances?"

"More than I can put into words" Minato answered Ophis, his voice little above a whisper.

"Do you have access to the power of gods, such as Hindu?" Minato looked at Ophis curious, he nodded and waited for Ophis to continue "If so, creating Avatars to perform tasks is something many gods do, wouldn't that mean you can create Avatars as well?"

He was ready to flat out reject her suggestion but caught himself and wondered if he could, his power had undergone some change with him still learning about the full extent of it. Even besides that, words from what seemed like an eternity ago resurfaced in his mind.

_"It's like the number zero… It's empty, but at the same time holds infinite possibilities"_

Remembering Igor's words Minato close his eyes "I have never thought of the idea, much less toyed with such an idea" Minato raised his hand to a mostly empty part of the room "But, nothing ventured nothing gained"

===]|[===

"Well, are you excited for your first?" Kiyome asked as she led Minato through an area he was unfamiliar with.

"A little" Minato answered honestly, making sure to remain close by Kiyome so as to not get lost. Even so, he found his eyes glancing at signs around them.

"It's only natural, don't worry. While I may not look like it but I have plenty of experience in this, so I'll be sure to gently guide you throughout" Kiyome said before she came to a stop and turned towards one of the larger buildings in the area "Now, for your first charge as a Tamer!"

Kiyome said energetically as she pointed to the pet store, earning her some glances but nothing more from the few passersby. Walking inside Kiyome spoke to the store manager who led them to a backroom where a magic circle was hidden in the carpeting, using the magic circle both Kiyome and Minato were transported to a larger building designed for large creatures to go about without issue.

"Ah! Miss Abe, it's been too long" a woman in a lab approached the two, she adjusted her glasses as she neared them.

"I see your doing well Xue Lee" Kiyome gestures to Minato "I'd like to introduce you to my student"

"Oh, you got another person interested in tennis?" Xue Lee said with a smile as she looked Minato over.

"I haven't played much but I am planning to look at the male tennis club at my school to see if they'll take me on" Minato answered, earning a surprised look from Kiyome.

"Wait, really?" Kiyome shook her head and recompose herself with a smile "Something to discuss later. Minato here is a newbie Beast Tamer and we're here for his first, any recommendation Professor?"

"I think we have quite the collection for him to pick from. Oh, where are my manners" Xue Lee turned to Minato "I'm Professor Xue Lee, I specialize in Cryptozoology to aid Beast Tamers in their endeavors so it's likely we'll be seeing plenty of each other"

"Cryptozoology?" Minato asked, having never heard the term before.

"Basically we study Cryptids, meaning pretty much all supernatural creatures. Just keep in mind not all Cryptozoologists are in the know so some are aiming to reveal the existence of them" Professor Xue Lee said, pushing up her glasses, sounding as though she had said those same words a thousand times over.

"Cryptids is the term used globally by Tamers" Kiyome said, raising a finger upwards as she did "Due to how many different people have different name for the same things, and Tamers don't necessarily work with only beasts, it was decided to use a more all encompassing term"

"I'll be sure to have a collection of books readied before you leave, essentials for new Tamers and how to care for you new companion" Professor Lee turned around and gestured for Minato and Kiyome to follow "Have you given any thought to what you're looking for?"

"No, not really" Minato answered as he looked around the area they walked through, seeing a large number of people of different ages, backgrounds and fashion choice interacting amongst themselves and the varying 'cryptids "Though, I was thinking maybe a Fae Folk like a Pixie"

"Any particular reason?" Professor Xue Lee asked as they passed through some doors into another wing of the building.

"Not really" he answered as he remembered his first night into Tartarus with Pixie joining him after defeating a Shadow, a feeling of something he was suppose to do "I know there are fairies that live with human so it seemed like a sensible option, depending on the Pixie in question"

Professor Lee smiled as she turned to Kiyome "I must say, you certainly have an eye for talent Miss Abe. Or, have you been hiding this young man for weeks to months before bringing him here" the professor said, her voice gaining a joking undertone.

Kiyome laughed with a proud smile "Well, I wouldn't take on just anyone as my student without good reason" she turned to Minato with her smile firmly in place "Returning to the question of Pixies, domestic Fae are actually an easy entry level for new Tamer along with some minor Yokais. It'll really come down to which Fae Court your planning on recruiting them from"

Without warning a symbol began blinking on Professor Lee's lab coat, gripping the blinking area she frowned as shouting could be heard from the now solidly glowing symbol.

"All personal be advised, a rescued chimera has broken out and is charging through the area. Be advised that subject is highly aggressive and lethal force has been granted when needed"

"Rescued?"

Kiyome turned to Minato "While most Tamer's relationship with their charges are mutually beneficial and respectful to varying degrees there are those with, let's just amoral approaches"

"Experimentation, eugenics, forcing spiritual beings into special homunculus bodies for breeding, kidnapping, black market dealings" Professor Lee said with a notable edge to her voice "There's a special form of damnation for those wicked souls"

"Target sighted!"

As they reached a hallway that split off from the one they were walking down frantic voices could be heard, from said hallway a three headed dog ran down so quickly it almost crashed into the wall. It was mostly black and white with the outer heads black, the right head having blue eyes to the left's red, while the middle white head looked forward with orange eyes that seemed to analyze the area around it.

The middle head barked aloud causing a wave to wash over everyone near it, Minato narrowed his eyes as he recognized it as something similar to what Shadows used to make him and SEES Fearful in the middle of battle.

Minato rushed forward to meet the three headed dog, much to Kiyome dismay "Minato, stop! Oh, I'm glad little Phis isn't here for this"

Several minutes later…

"Are you sure about this?" Kiyome asked a bandaged Minato as they sat in Professor Lee's office, the escaped three headed chimera that they came across in the hall sitting in front of them "I mean, chimera's are not exactly an easy charge to take care off for even regular Tamers with experience and you want one that you personal fought not thirty minutes ago"

"I think we came to an understanding" Minato said, earning nods and barks from the chimera in front of them "Now, what should we do about names?"

"No names were found in the raid that rescued them, so for now this little chimera in the shape of a three head hellhound doesn't have any names" Professor Lee typed something up on her computer "You'll need to come up with four names, three for each individual head and one shared name"

"Think of the shared name like a family name" Kiyome continued, pausing as she saw Minato with a troubled look as he looked at his hands and to his soon to be first charge "Is something the matter?"

Minato turned to Kiyome, his expression troubled as if he only just realized a terrible truth "They have three heads yet I have only two hands to offer"

The room was silent for a moment before Kiyome barely held back a laugh, Professor Lee shot Minato a smile before turning back to her screen "Miss Abe, I hope you don't mind me requesting you check in on these two once in a while. Make sure he isn't spoiling the little thing too much" Lee glanced at the chimera hellhound out of the corner of her eye just as the three heads merged together into a single three eyed dog, the third eye shuts leaving it practically invisible in the white stripe on its head.

Minato tilted his head for a moment before gesturing his new charge over for ear scratches "So, is this like a merged consciousness or a shared one?"

The now one headed chimera hellhound barked several times, Minato stopping his ear scratching for a moment with a surprised look before continuing.

"Okay, that request for random checks just became more serious. I'll issue you both diaries to keep track of their development" Professor Lee said with a bemused frown.

An hour later Minato and Kiyome were on their way out with Minato's new chimera hellhound wearing a harness, Kiyome stopped when she saw someone she recognized running over to her.

"Kiyome, I'm so glad I was able to run into you here" the unknown person rummaged through their satchel to pull out a letter "A message from your father"

"Oh, thank you" Kiyome answered with little enthusiasm, the messenger gave a polite farewell before running off.

"Is everything alright?"

Kiyome turned to Minato with a half hearted smile "I'm fine, I just haven't really spoken with my father in a while and we've grown a little distant" she shook her and placed the letter in her coat pocket before kneeling down to Minato chimera hellhound "That doesn't really matter at the minute, what does matter is making sure Bridget gets settled in"

The singular head divided into three again, the right head with blue eyes licked Kiyome's hand while the middle sniffed it and the left most just looked.

"I wonder how little Phis is going to react to Alexa, Elda and Dealla when she meets them" Kiyome stood up with a curious eye "I didn't see her with you today, normally she clings onto you as much as possible"

Minato shrugged "She doesn't 'cling' onto me, and she had other plans today"

* * *

[Elsewhere]

* * *

"And that should be the last of it"

Ophis looked over the pile of spell books she set out to collect with an almost impossible to notice nod, she turned to the human magician who aided her and gave them a much more noticeable nod. Using her snakes, Ophis runs them all through the books to ensure no means of tracking are present before she leaves with them, double checking each book before being swallowed by a snake for storage.

"Um, may I ask why you're looking for these books Lady Ophis?"

"No" Ophis answered without turning to the human magician, she had every intention of collecting what she wanted and leaving afterwards which meant avoiding whatever politics the members of the Khao Brigade wished for her to be involved in. Which is why she picked this particular human magician to begin with, more or less kept to herself and her small group along with being the most likely to lead her to what she was looking for.

"Gone for months and the first thing you do coming back is collecting books on magic" footsteps accompanied the new voice as two people came towards them, looking over Ophis saw it was White Dragon Emperor and the current wielder of Caliburn and Excalibur Ruler "You had a lot of people worried, especially since you disappeared after taking back and returning the power you've given out. On a more personal note, I've missed the talks we usually have"

"There were things needing my attention, Vali" Ophis turned to the devil human hybrid "something I need to take care of alone"

"I'm going off on a hunch and saying you found someone able to help you defeat Great Red" Vali said with a smile, the smile that grew when he saw Ophis's eyes widen "It's not that hard to connect the dots, the only thing that would draw your attention is something to help with Great Red. Particularly someone seeing as I can't think of any other reason why your collecting these books, or keeping this information secret"

"...It's why I chose her to aid me in collecting them" Ophis said looking to Morgan Le Fay and Arthur Pendragon talking to standing beside one another "I rather keep my discovery secret for now, do not tell anyone of being here or what I'm doing"

"Of course, though I have to ask. Who is it that has gained your personal interest?" a glint passed over Vali gaze "Is it the Red Dragon Emperor?"

"No, it's not" Ophis checked she had everything she needed before leaving, debating on what else to say she decided to give Vali a hint to his rival without outright directing him near Minato "Though in my search, I came across the new Red Dragon Emperor newly turned into a Devil. It will be only a matter of time before he makes himself known"

"And may we ask when we'll meet this mysterious individual you've come across? Arthur asked, his curiosity getting the better of him"

Ophis answered with a smile "The world will know, when he is already _mine_" Ophis left soon after, no light, sound or fading, merely disappearing in an instant.

"Well. that's a load off knowing she's doing well" Vali turned to the Pendragon siblings to see the troubled look on the younger sister's face "Is something the matter?"

"Is she going to bring those books back?" Morgan asked nervously "Because a few of them I checked out of a library"

* * *

Arriving back at the new Arisato Residence, Ophis deposited the books onto the floor of her room in the house, as she organized them she could hear music coming from outside. Going to the garden after changing from her normal clothes to casual she found Minato and Kiyome dancing together with a three headed dog, she watched them dance together while none of them seemed to have noticed her.

It was only when the retinue ended that Minato saw her "Welcome back, Phis, did everything go alright for you?"

Ophis nodded as she looked over at the sweaty Minato and Kiyome, who mere moments ago were moving their bodies in rhythm with each other "What are you doing?"

"Dancing"

Ophis tilted her head (?) "Why?"

"It's to help train Bridget here" Kiyome said gesturing to the three headed dog, she developed a light blush and looked away "I'll admit I got interested and decided to join in"

Bridget walked over to Ophis and began sniffing her, she kept her gaze focused on the creature before her as she addressed the two humans with her "Where did you find Bridget?"

"A Tamer office where we recruit and hand off our charges, little Bridget here was involved with experiments designed to 'create' the ultimate attack and guard dog" Kiyome looked over to Bridget and saw her head giving Ophis varying reactions. The right head, Alexa, whined as she looked at Ophis confused and looked between Kiyome and Minato for answers. The middle head, Elda, sniffed Ophis seemingly just as confused as Alexa. The left head, Dealla, was already beginning to bare her teeth.

Minato noticed this as well and began rubbing Bridget's back to ease the confused chimera hellhound, clapping her hands Kiyome drew the attention of everyone in the garden "Okay, let's try something to help Bridget warm up to little Phis. Minato can you sit beside Phis for a moment"

Before long Ophis was sitting on Minato's lap, Kiyome encouraged Ophis to get comfortable, Kiyome looked at the scene with a nod "Okay, since Bridget is familiar with your scent it's just a simple matter of having them connect that same feeling to Phis. Luckily the sweat you worked up will help with that"

Ophis frowned "I don't believe this will work"

Minato looked over Ophis's head to Bridget sitting across from them, Alexa, Dealla and Elda heads looked over to them cautiously as if expecting some kind of trap. With some words of encouragement Bridget came over and jumped up onto Minato and Ophis, causing the two to fall over and come under assault by licks from Alexa, Dealla and Elda. Kiyome came over to get the cryptid off them but soon found herself joining them in the pile, it was only after Alexa, Dealla and Elda were stratified with their victory did they let off.

"Aright, let's train one more time before sitting down for something to eat" Minato turned to Ophis "Want to join in?"

Ophis shook her head, instead sitting on the sidelines with Kiyome as Minato and Bridget worked on their coordination, all the while her feet tapped in time with the music.

-====]\|/[====-

_'I recognize this work, that shouldn't be possible'_

Merlin's voice echoed through Minato's mind as he read over the magic book Ophis got for him, it seemed like a simple thing to call upon Merlin and other such magic wielders to help him come to understand what was on the pages, the last thing he expected was Merlin having very vivid memories and knowledge of the creation of the magic system primarily used by humans.

Something that shouldn't be possible due to the fact he was NOT from this world, so how was Merlin able to access memories and skills that they shouldn't possess.

Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment as he closed his eyes, he was starting to go around in circles. The only possibility was that he was somehow connecting to the collective unconscious of this new world, and that opened up an all new can of worms, with all the unknowns it meant for him and this new world.

Like so many times before, Minato wished he had access to the Velvet Room. Igor had grown to be like an uncle to him while he and Elizabeth grew closer in a far less familial way, both would have a far better chance of understanding what was happening then he could. He might know some things but it amounted to little more than basic concepts, it was comparable to knowing some term names for quantum physics and having only the vague idea of what they meant.

Minato took a deep breath and carried on with his studying, for now considering the new additions to Merlin being just add on to his core like his later myths, while making a note to search for the works of Carl Jung if he existed in this world and topics connected to the collective unconscious.

Raising a hand into the air Minato focused for a moment before a magic circle took shape, from it a crystal statue of a humanoid being with half its face covered by one of its hands took shape.

Turning the small statue in his hand Minato regarded for a moment before placing it on a nearby shelf "Well, not too familiar with this stuff yet but it should be handy" looking around the room for a moment Minato raised his hand again as another magic circle formed, a wave of energy passed over the room leaving it cleaner than before.

Minato examined the room to make sure everything was placed where it was supposed to be, everything else that he didn't acknowledge as 'not garbage' was all found in the rooms waste bin.

Minato allowed himself a small smile as he returned to studying the magic books Ophis was kind enough to get him, planning to make full use of them before returning them to her so she could return them to the library they came from.

* * *

"Hmm" Kiyome looked on as Minato and Bridget went through the 'trials' she set up for them, she turned to Minato with suspicion in her eyes "Are you sure you don't have prior experience at being a Beast Tamer? Because your making these trials I made look easy"

"I can't really take all the credit" Minato said as he scratched Bridget's ears of their combined head, earning "Their doing most of the work"

"Well, since things are going this smoothly, maybe it's time I give a taste of some of the other duties expected of Tamers" Kiyome pulled out several pieces of papers and handed them to Minato "That, being quests?"

"Like in a video game?" Minato asked as he took the papers, memories of the missing people reports for those lost in Tartarus came to the forefront of his mind for a moment, seeing details with the names of those who made the request along with the rewards on offer.

"Technically yes" Kiyome said under her breath "It can be expensive taking care of those we take under as our charges. So to help with supporting ourselves various Tamer centric organizations maintain a system for us to earn money and materials, the types of quests are as numerous as those who become charges of Tamers"

Looking over the quests Minato saw they were for gathering flowers, hunting animals and securing the area for an unknown person. He also noted another important detail, they all shared the same destination.

"Is there another purpose for these Quests?" Minato asked, feeling there was something more than what Kiyome had told him. Kneeling down he showed the papers to Bridget "Which one do you want to do first?"

Bridget's head divided into three, each head giving a different answer.

'Barkbark' I wanna secure the area, said Alexa, her blue eyes shining

'BarkBark' No, go for gathering flowers, said Elda, her emerald eyes sparkling

'BARKBARK' Hunting Hunting Hunting, it'll be fun let's go, said Dealla, her red eyes burning with an inner flame.

"You're sharper then you look" Kiyome said with a nod, "Yes, the other purpose of Quests is to keep track of Tamers and those they train. This is mainly to weed out any abuse on the part of Tamer or Charge" she walked over to Minato and took back the papers "Though you'll only be limited to 'Rookie' Quests until you officially get your license, the tests for getting one can be more difficult for most then others so these rookie quests will help us further your training"

"How do you plan on getting there? If my memory serves me well, that location is quite the distance away" Minato's thoughts drifted back to work and his shift for the night.

"Perks of being a Tamer, having charges that can get us places fast" Kiyome said, several of her monsters came forward with her riding with a headless horseman.

Minato looked at the other monsters that came with Kiyome, seeing several of them offering him a ride he considered his options.

A choice taken from him as he felt the air grow significantly hotter behind him, turning around Minato saw Bridget surrounded in flames of blue, red and green that grew in size with her. Before the chimera hellhound was little smaller than a medium size dog now rivalled a horse in height, without warning Elda tossed Minato onto their back before looking smugly at the other monsters.

Without missing a beat both Minato and Kiyome made notes of what had just transpired, before setting off to the mountains for their quests.

As they went about their work, a figure would regularly check up on them throughout the day. One that paid special attention to Minato, especially as Kiyome showed him ways Tamers support their charges in battle.

* * *

"Is it cool if I stop around your place after school?" Aika asked Minato as they walked to school together "I'm curious of what it's like and Satou isn't saying much"

Minato nodded "Sure, we'll go together. Don't want to risk Bridget thinking your an intruder and biting you" Minato turned to Aika with a small smile "I adopted a dog recently, not sure if I mentioned that before"

"Oh good, for a second there I thought you took in some wild woman foreigner who was living out in the woods" Aika said jokingly, she gave Minato a half lidded look "Though, considering it's you, you might actually do that if the chance came up"

Mianto opened his mouth to reply before closing it, his thoughts drifting back to him offering the yokai Kenzou a place to stay, he looked away from Aika and instead focused on what was in front of him as they neared the school.

"Oi, don't tell me you'd actually do it?" Aika asked, her previously joking tone changing into worry.

"I don't have any rebuttal to that," Minato said with a resigned tone, causing Aika to facepalm.

As they drew closer to the school Minato saw several people waiting by the front gate, what was different however was a small group looking directly at him.

Issei Hyoudou smiled as he waved Minato over with Sona Sitri standing beside him with a tired look, and along with them Asia stood with them beaming. The aura of Devils prominently present on all three.

Angels raged at what had happened to Asia demanding she be made human again, Demons snickered as the sight of another one of those faithful to God led astray. But, even with the many different reactions, one course of action was clear.

Investigate what has happened and to act accordingly, whatever it may be.

"Hey, Minato! Over here!"

A noticeable portion of the students at the gate paused to look over to Issei Aika herself gave the second year a confused look before turning to Minato "Wait, you know Issei?"

"Through reputation and mutual acquaintances" Minato answered as he drew near the group of Devils, Sona scolding Issei for his outburst as the gathered students began whispering. Minato shared a look with Aika "And no, I don't know why he's calling me over either"

"Mr Arisato" Sona turned to Minato as soon as he got close enough "Are you free to speak with us after school, there's an urgent private matter we need to discuss?"

After school Minato found himself at the student council room with him flanked on all sides by Rias and Sona's Peerage, he wasn't sure if the intimidation attempt was intentional or not on their part and even if it was it wasn't very effective.

After all the formalities were done they got to the heart of the matter, training. Namely, Rias had an important match coming up with another Devil and needed help training.

He asked why him? They answered that Beast Tamers were renowned for bringing out the inner potential of others and that was what they needed at the moment, they had planned on asking Kiyome but she had a scheduling conflict and since Koneko saw him with Kiyome working together to secure the area for their training camp it couldn't hurt to ask.

Minato made a mental note to check in with Kiyome to make sure what they were saying were true, he wanted to believe they were being up front with him but it didn't hurt to check.

The obvious question to ask was why him, an apprentice to a Beast Tamer rather than one more experienced, there were many more people far more qualified to help them push them beyond their limits then him.

Because they were short on time and they trusted him, that was their half hearted answer.

He would have walked away from the meeting due to how sketchy it all felt, but it was his best chance to make sure what happened to Kenzou hadn't happened to Asia.

"So you're going with the Occult Research Club to some remote forest, for two days" Aika said as she held onto her tea cup, they sat in Minato's living room as they talked over what the meeting was about. Slightly altered to remove the supernatural elements.

"Was supposed to be a week, but I can only attend two days due to pre-existing responsibilities" Minato replied, remembering how that part of negotiations seemed to drag on forever with both Sona and Rias offering double and triple payment for the whole week with him turning them down each time.

Speaking of which he still needed to review the information on the enemy Peerage they're going up against, Sona already had it prepared for him along with what information they had.

Aika furrowed her brow "That really sounds like the start of a horror story" Aika put on a creepy smile as she raised her hands above her head "Isolated in the woods an Occult School club unleashes an evil many pray never is released"

"Wait, would the Occult club be the monsters or unleash the monsters?" Satou asked as she stole a glance towards Bridget who sat between Minato and her, Bridget returned the stare with her own heterochromia one.

"I am the monster" Minato said in a dark and dramatic tone.

Aika barely held back a laugh "No offense Minato, but you're not scary enough to be a slasher villain. Heck, Satou here is better suited for the role"

Satou looked to Aika wide eyed "What!? Why me?"

"Because I have seen those cold eyes you get when someone tries to harsh Minato in maid mode" Aika said, stiffening slightly as Satou's eyes changed to that cold eye stare for a moment, Aika quickly turned to Ophis who was peaceful nibbling at some sweets before the cold sweat came "So, your going to stay with my Grandma and Grandpa while Minato's gone?"

Ophis nodded "He refuses to let me remain here alone"

"Yeah, I'm confident we'd all be worried if you were left on your own" Aika turned to Bridget to see her yawning "What about your new pop, I'm pretty sure Gentle Etiquette can't house pets so where is she going to go?"

"A mentor of mine agreed to look after her, you know Kiyome Abe from the Tennis club?" Minato asked, his thoughts drifting towards Kiyome wondering how she was taking the news he gave her, especially given the undertone of her voice at the end of their call.

"Oh~ So, the rumors are true then?" Aika asked with a mischievous grin.

* * *

"Rias, what are your planning?"

Kiyome and Rias stood opposite each other in front of the academy's front gate, the two of them meeting in private after Kiyome called Rias for an urgent matter.

"I'm not planning anything, is everything alright Kiyome?" Rias asked as she looked at Kiyome with a worried look, while they weren't exactly close friends they were on good terms with one another. In all the years she knew her, Rias had never seen Kiyome this upset.

"I know about the training camp you 'hired' my student for" Kiyome answered, Rias flinched at Kiyome's answer "And I know about how both you and Sitri already offered him places in your Peerages and he turned you both down, a two day training camp is not going to make him change his mind"

"It was meant to be a week" Rias answered meekly, looking away unable to meet Kiyome's gaze.

"Rias" Kiyome rubbed her forehead, her eyes closed to keep back the headache beginning to take shape "Do you have any idea of the political nightmare storm this will cause if word got out, heiress of one the thirty two Pillars hiring an apprentice Beast Tamer and isolating him with her and her peerage in order to recruit him?"

Rias sighed in defeat "I know, okay. The relationship with the Three Factions and Tamers has only recently started improving over the last few years, and me doing this can cause all of that to be undo. If not directly, then by having other Kings hiring Tamer to force them into position against their will or even proxy battles"

"And cost Minato any future career of being a Tamer, let's not forget about him in all of this now" Kiyome said, shooting Rias a frustrated glare "Tamer organizations have strict rules for this sort of things, rules making it so a promising new Tamer could be blacklisted before he even got his feet off the ground"

The atmosphere around them grew tense, neither speaking a word as neither due what to say next.

After a long period of silence Kiyome let out a sigh "Rias, I know what you're going through. My father is insisting I marry some stranger I don't even know, there is always this sense of dread in the back of my mind asking if this is the day I get the call where I'm forced down the aisle and my future is taken from me, but I can't in good conscious let you do this"

Rias turned to Kiyome in wide eyed shock, this was the first time she was hearing of the Beast Tamer being in a similar position as her. While a part of her doubted if what Kiyome said was true, it was gone as quickly as it came due to the tone in Kiyome's voice "Kiyome?"

"He and I may be classmates, but I am also his mentor and teacher" Kiyome placed her hand over her chest as she closed her eyes, recent memories coming to the forefront of her mind "I've seen him come to learn and love the world of being a Tamer, seeing him take to it like second nature with a well of knowledge that I know will only grow far larger in time" Kiyome opened her eyes and looked to Rias with eyes that held a glint of shame "I'll confess, I have the same intentions as you. Hoping Minato would be the key to freeing me from the unloved marriage others have decided for me"

"Difference being he can go back to how things were before he was a Tamer, he can't do that as a Devil" Rias continued for Kiyome, while a part of her wanted to call Kiyome a hypocrite for calling her out on wanting Minato to get her out of her engagement while doing the same thing, Rias knew that Minato would need to walk very different paths to accomplish what were similar goals.

Even knowing this, her thoughts drifted back to Riser and his peerage in her club room. Unable to do anything as Issei was brutally beaten by Riser's own pawn piece. Her chest tightened, the thought of her own peerage not being strong enough gripping her heart and mind like a vice.

She needed power, and Minato was the only option she could think of using her invaluable unused pieces on at moment. Asia spoke highly of him even if she was made to promise to keep his battle at the church a secret, though they hadn't seen most of his battle with the stray exorcist he was able to hold his own.

"Just, let me ask him again"

"You don't have to ask me permission to try and recruit my student Rias, that's something only he can answer" Kiyome gave Rias a comforting smile filled relief "Just, respect his choice and don't try to force the matter"

Rias nodded, it was the least she could do.

* * *

At the end of the first day of training camp

* * *

"Fight me Minato, if I win you join President's Peerage!" Issei said with hot blooded determination, Boosted Gear manifesting on his left forearm as he raised it up.

'_Well. things turned sour fast_' Minato thought as he stood by the doorway, he was about to leave the dinning room to retire for the night when Issei made his challenge.

Overall the first day of the training camp was pleasant, there was a notable awkwardness in the air with Minato being the lone outsider among a group of friends but it was manageable.

They had made excellent progress over the course of a single day, covering weaknesses and working on their strengths, Asia in particular devouring knowledge on bodies to supplement her previous study on biology the church provided her both mundane and supernatural.

Then it all came crashing down at dinner when they tried recruiting him again, and once again turned them down. A bit more firmly than last time due to what he learned during the day's training, a simple fact they themselves didn't seem to realize.

They want his help, but they did not need it.

They had all the tools they needed to overcome the upcoming battle, all they required was some training to hone their skills and teamwork.

Normally he would have given his perverted underclassman a tired 'no' before going to bed, however Issei's words rubbed Minato the wrong way.

"So, now your going to use physical violence to make me comply"

Kenzou story coupled with Kiyome's warning/lecture from before he came here with the Occult Research Club were still very much fresh in his mind, even if it wasn't his intention Issei's words coupled with the current circumstances made Minato wonder how many fell into traps that were similar to this training camp.

Minato sighed deeply before rubbing the bridge of his nose "If we're doing this, everyone will need to be involved not just you Issei" Minato looked over the Occult Research Club with a keen eyes "Tomorrow the entire Occult Research Club will go up against me at noon, if you haven't defeated me by the time the sun sets over the horizon I win and none of you or those directly connected to you will bother me about joining a peerage again"

He was already planning to have them go through a mock battle tomorrow anyway, only now it was going to be taken slightly more seriously.

Personas made themselves known from the Sea of Souls volunteering for what he had planned.

* * *

Rias sighed deeply as she led her peerage to the area Minato had planned for their battle, she didn't need to look behind her to know her peerage were tense.

"Um, are we really going to fight Minato?" Asia asked aloud as she looked over the group as they made their way uphill "It, just doesn't seem fair for it to be six against one"

"Arisato himself was the one who made the rules for this, though it might not have come to this if last night went differently" Kiba replied, he spied a glance to Issei to see their pawn's shoulders sink a notable amount.

"I really put my foot in it last night" Issei facepalmed "Giving it a minutes thought after cooling down me challenging Minato came out far worse than I intended" Issei internally reprimanded himself, only realizing after the damage was done that his words could have been misunderstood as them forcing Minato to become a Devil against his will.

"It may cause more problems if we don't act soon" Koneko added, she looked off to the side into the forest before continuing "Abuse of Tamers isn't unheard of"

"Oi, what do you mean abuse?" Issei asked alarmed, he and Asia stopping in their tracks.

"Well" Akeno began to speak, her tone usually serious from what Asia and Issei were used to "To say the Three Factions and Tamers in general have a, let's say, complicated relationship is putting it mildly" she winced on the word complicated "Tamers are usually seen as neutral politically giving them unrivalled freedom of movement between different factions, even embraced by other factions such as Yokai and Celtic Factions, but that had made them targets in the past"

"The Three Factions have made use of Tamers to fight proxy battles for them, often times without even the Tamers involve realizing it" Rias continued for Akeno, the sadness in her voice palpable "Though, even that doesn't compare to some using the system Tamers use to support themselves to trap Tamers or force them to serve them under threat of death" _'even then, Devils could just use an Evil Piece to force them to join as their dying or afterwards' _Rias thought.

Asia and Issei's eyes widen at the new piece of information, Issei kicking himself harder as the greater scope of things came into view.

"There you are, I was getting worried you got lost"

In front of them on the trail was Minato, he made a show of checking his phone before turning back to the Occult Research Club "We're supposed to start in less then five minutes, if you don't hurry you'll barely have time to come up with a plan"

"Minato, I'm sorry" Issei came forward, rubbing his neck as he looked towards Minato "I stepped out of line with the whole challenging you to a fight when you made it clear you can't help us with the upcoming match"

Minato frowned "I am helping, I'm here aren't I. While I can't take to the battlefield I can help prepare you all for it" he turned around and gestured for the others to follow "I'll just consider your challenge from the other night the result of emotions running wild and your inner shounen protagonist showing, I may not know you all too well but I can tell you're not the sort who would beat me half to death or outright kill me only to forcefully resurrect me as a Devil"

Arriving to a clearing the Occult Research Club found six cloaked figures standing waiting for them, the devils tense as they prepared for a fight while Minato walked forward to join the cloaked individuals.

"A Tamer never fights alone, I believe your familiar with that saying Ms Gremory" Minato said as he gestured to the people behind him "These six individuals will be fighting with me in this mock rating game"

"I'll be honest" Rias said as she grew slightly less tense "I was expecting a hellhound to show up"

"Bridget still needs a lot more training for this type of fight, I don't want her to kill or be killed" Minato looked at the time and frowned as he saw he was almost noon "Since we're running low on time I'll explain how this is going to work. Rias and I will be the acting King pieces in this battle, all you have to do to win is take this red bandana from me" Minato said as he took out the red bandana to show everyone "However, you have two lose conditions. Either Rias herself is taken out or everyone else is, however you can try again straight away so long as at least one among you wants to try again"

"I must say, your making this sound so easy" Akeno said as she shout Minato a smile "I wonder, are you going to let us win or do you have some devious tricks up your sleeves"

Minato tied the red bandana around his left arm "I want you all to give it your all, even if it's a mock battle. If any one of you holds back then I'll be forced to consider this match and our entire contract to have been made on bad faith, meaning a forfeit and nullifying our contract" looking over the Occult Research Club he saw they were all preparing for the fight "Ready?"

Hearing a series of confirmations Minato looked at his phone for a moment before raising a hand with all fingers raised, slowly counting down. "Five, four, three, two" Minato turned around, his back to the Occult Research club before he began walking away "one" reaching one Minato snapped his fingers to sign the start of the battle.

Kiba rushed forward using his Knight Speed to catch Minato unaware and steal the bandana before he could react, however Kiba was intercepted midway from one of the cloaked individuals who summoned a great shield to force Kiba back.

At once the strangers who stood with Minato removed their cloaks, their appearance shocking the Occult Research Club. In front of them were six identical copies of Minato, each with only different posture and facial expressions useful for telling them apart.

One held a goofy smile as he stretched "OK! Let's do this, you and me Yokai girl" he took in a deep breath before an aura of power developed around him.

Koneko took a step back "Senjutsu"

"AH!"

Everyone turned just in time to see one of the other Minato clones flying off into the forest with Asia in his arms, Issei reached out to her before a hand with a monstrous grip grabbed him by his head and pulled him backwards.

Issei looked up at the Minato clone as he sneered at Issei "Don't turn your back on your enemy worm" Issei was spun around like a ragdoll before being thrown deep into the woods with the Minato clone responsible following behind with a large toothy smile.

One by one Rias saw her Peerage being separated and forced to fight individual battles until it was just her with a clone of Minato with his arms held behind his back giving her a critical eye.

"Blood of both Bael and Gremory, hmm" the Minato clone gave Rias an indifferent look "We must say, we're not very impressed with what you have put on display child"

Rias gathered the power of destruction in her hands as she stared down her enemy

* * *

"How are they handling themselves?"

Minato looked up to see Ophis looking down at him, he stood up from the shade under the tree as Ophis floated downwards.

"Better than I expected" Minato looked down at several lines drawn in the dirt "They've lost only ten times so far"

It had been two hours since his avatars began battling the Occult Research Club, since then Rias had been eliminated four times with her peerage falling a total of six.

"Thanks again, your fresh point of view made this possible" Minato shot Ophis a smile as he focused on his individual avatars.

He was still getting used to this newly discovered power, creating empty shells for different Personas to occupy and go around without fully manifesting. Though, they were capable of manifesting at limited strength and if the vessel was destroyed they'd be returned to his Sea of Souls, while nowhere near a Persona's strength fully manifested it was preferable to summoning them for things that could be considered overkill.

Ophis just nodded, she looked out into the forest sensing the various fights taking place "Why are you playing with them, you can defeat them easily?"

Minato raised an eyebrow at Ophis's question "I'm not playing with them, I'm training them" checking on their progress Minato frowned slightly "Though I'll admit, some of my Personas are enjoying themselves"

Those who offered aid for Asia smiled as they saw the former nun made steady and consistent progress in the trials put against her, using her new skills to hasten her movement and being aware of her surroundings. There wasn't enough time to properly train her in combat so they settled for strengthening what she had and making her harder to pin down.

Those who stood forth for Koneko were enjoying their sparring as they helped Koneko cultivate her skills and imparting techniques to her, though the frustration of her refusing a part of herself and creating a bottleneck for herself rubbed many a persona the wrong way.

Issei's trainers were helping the young man, but mostly to draw out the Y Ddraig Goch of this world to see how the Welsh dragon compared to his counterpart.

The others were thankfully taking their tasks more seriously.

The warriors who came for Kiba lectured the young man on different forms of swordsmanship and the proper use of wielding a dagger, trapped in a barrier that can only be broken by destroying a shield left the former human little alternative other than dueling.

Akeno's trainers put the Nephilim turned Devil through several mental tests, reinforcing the idea of her being Rias's second in command and opposing her plans does not mean turning against her friend.

Rias's trainers were either silent or criticizing her when it became apparent she wasn't noticing her own mistakes and adapting accordingly, it was this criticism that cause Rias to over stretch herself leading to her defeats.

"How will you explain this to them?" Ophis turned to Minato with a look he considered concern "they will be asking questions"

"Worse case scenario, they contribute my avatars to a Sacred Gear that gained a subspecies" Minato gave Ophis a small smile, internally thanking her again for giving him a more in depth explanation of Sacred Gears "Other then that there are plenty of beings in this world capable of powerful enough illusions to make think they were fighting clones of me, the trick is leaving no evidence of my avatars"

"Your getting reckless, they will keep a closer eye on you after this"

"They were going to be watching me anyway, at least this way I won't be seen as a threat and hopefully won't push if I want privacy" Minato looked out into the forest where a vessel containing two demons wished to know if Rias was worthy of her birthright "Besides, what else was I supposed to do? A classmate of mine was in trouble and I could help"

"You have a soft heart" Ophis said, part of her questioning if she was using the right term, filing away that piece of information on Mianto for later.

Minato smiled "Most of the time. So, how are things with you?"

"There is a matter that I need you for" Ophis said as she looked up to meet Minato's gaze "Something that cannot wait any longer" seeing she had his undivided attention she continued "I want you to teach me how to dance?"

"Okay" Minato agreed straight away.

"You're not going to ask why?" Ophis asked with a head tilt (?)

Minato shrugged "If you want to share, I'm all ears"

"...I've found my mind drifting back to the sight of you dancing with that Beast Tamer, since I've learned that dancing can enhance one's experience with music I wish to learn. But" Ophis looked down "I don't know how to dance, and my attempts to replicate what I could find have met with unsatisfying conclusions"

"Unsatisfying?"

"I was scolded for trying to copy a dance on TV, and created several holes in a wall" Ophis answered earning her a blank look from Mianto.

"Well, if I'm going to teach you we're going to need music" Minato took out his Evoker and placed it against his head "Orpheus!"

The sound of a gunshot and the shattering of glass echoed in the clearing and traveled no further, meanwhile a Nekoshou stumbled earning her a raise brow from her trainer.

Orpheus loomed over Minato, it's eyes fixated on Ophis before it lowered itself to the ground, from the speakers on it's chest soft music could be heard playing. Minato's mind drifted back to when he first discovered his initial Persona doubled as a speaker, his earphones got busted up during a run through Tartarus and Orpheus began playing the music he was in the middle of enjoying. Once that was learnt Junpei handed him several pieces of music to add to SEES's background music, not long everyone started giving him music to add.

Until one song caused the team to stumble during a fight causing them to almost be wiped out, no one was sure who put that song forward but the background music came to a stop soon afterwards.

"You said you didn't like using that for trivial things"

"There's nothing trivial about helping a friend" Minato reached out his hand for Ophis to take.

Ophis looked at the hand, she lifted her own seemingly about to take it when she looked up to Minato "We're friends?"

Minato nodded "Yeah, at least I think we are"

Ophis blinked and took hold of her friend's hand, an explosion further out drew both their attention for a moment "What about them?"

Minato considered Ophis question, his focus turning back to the Occult Research club to see their progress, seeing them having lost for the eleventh time "We have time" Minato took Ophis other hand as he slowly taught her basic dance moves "Okay, first we'll start off slow to help you get an idea of what to do"

Ophis nodded and followed his instructions, keeping her eyes on their feet as they went.

* * *

"Well worm, you ready for another round. Eighteenth time the charm"

Issei knelt on the ground clutching Boosted Gear close to his chest "I can't go on"

Issei's trainer, Vessel D11 which held the will of several dragons, narrowed their eyes causing the once human gaze to become reptilian "What's the matter, does the little worm need another break?"

"Boosted Gear, it's broken. I-It won't boost" Issei said with a shake in his voice as if he was on the verge of tears.

"Come now, worm! On your feet and quit it with the fibs" the reptilian eyes became human again, the Vessel made in Minato's likeness giving a toothy grin "We still get plenty of sunlight left, if you keep at it you and your friends may even see Minato at sunset"

"Prez. Asia, everyone. I am so, so sorry" Issei choked back tears as he drew closer into himself.

"You can't be serious, that Sacred Gear holds the power of the Welsh Dragon and was forged by the very creator of this world. And you claim to have somehow broken it" Vessel D11 said, their voice changing as several others seemed to overlap at points. Issei,s only response was a whimper "I was calling you a worm, but I see now that's a compliment as worms would be more useful than you" the overlapping voices returned as Vessel D11 "I expect more from the one who came to possess Y Ddraig Goch's power, but if what you're saying is true it means your the worst being to possess that overglorified prison everyone seems to call sacred"

Issei didn't answer, his soft sobbing being his only response.

Vessel D11 growled "Too weak to be either Dragon or Devil, and what I've seen you don't have the cunning of either or the ingenuity of man. Unworthy of being Devil or Dragon and you can't even call yourself human anymore" the growl grew more intense as several voices spoke as one "On your feet, we'll find some use from you-"

Issei spun around slamming Boosted Gear into the abdomen of Vessel D11, it's green gem growing blindingly with power as Issei smiled broadly at the surprised look of Vessel D11.

Vessel D11 smiled once they realized what had just happened "Clever little-"

An explosion rocked the area, larger than the ones before it, enough that it drew the attention of others for a moment.

"Oh right, I finally got a solid hit in!" Issei cheered, he looked to the red gauntlet on his left arm with a thankful smile "Thanks Ddraig, wouldn't have gotten through that without you hiding the boosts for me"

"You can thank me later, you need to run and regroup with the others now" a voice could be heard from the gauntlet, it's green gem flashing in time with the voice "We're losing time, run!"

"Right!" Issei took off running into the forest heading in the direction where he best guested Asia would be, using his boost to increase his speed to cover more ground.

"I'm honestly surprised that the cover story of yours worked, you'd break long before this Sacred Gear does" Ddraig said as Issei ran through the forest, channeling a boost into his speed, as they ran Ddraig felt something stir from behind them.

Once he was gone a low chuckle could be heard, Vessel D11 stood with a toothy grin with it's shirt blown off to reveal scales "Heh, heh. I'll give you a five minute head start little wyrm, then our hunt can begin"

* * *

"That's great Ophis, you're really getting the hang of it" Minato cheered the Dragon God as she finished her own dancing routine.

"Hmm" Ophis took a moment to perform the basic dance moves Minato showed before a tiny smile graced her lips "I like this more than the other dancing I saw"

"I'm glad to hear it" Minato said, smiling himself at seeing Ophis's own. At the back of his mind he felt the need to ask something "By the way, what was the dancing that you were trying earlier"

Without saying a word Ophis summoned forth one of her snakes, that snake floated into the air before biting its own tail to create a solid circle and began playing something. What it showed was a rather suggestive music video.

Minato nodded in understanding "Yeah, those kinds of dance moves are things people don't normally do. And if they do them it's under very specific circumstances" Minato rolled his shoulders "Let's take a break before we continue dance practice, I have some water with me if you want any?"

"Sweets?" Ophis asked as she followed Minato the shade of the tree she found him under when she arrived.

"No, sorry" Minato answered, Ophis frowned slightly before sitting on Minato's lap as he sat on the ground with his back against the tree. This caught Minato by surprise before realizing that Ophis may not want to sit on the ground and she likely preferred sitting on his lap after what Kiyome had them do to help Bridget get used to Ophis.

"So, besides the dancing and wall destroying, how have things been with you?" Minato asked, not used to someone sitting on his lap.

"I returned the books after you finished them like you asked" Ophis answered, remembering the surprised look of Morgan Le Fay as several books appeared in her room without warning "I was put in a maid outfit with the workers talking about making me a mascot for the shop" Ophis frowned deeply at the strange sounds the workers of the cafe made as they took pictures of her in different outfits, Satou and Aika smiling at her annoyance. She still wasn't sure what a mascot was.

"Sounds like I missed a lot"

"What are you hoping to achieve with these Devils?" Ophis turned her head to meet Minato's eyes.

"Cover what weaknesses that can be covered in the time we have, refining strengths and" Minato paused for a moment before looking up "To show them what they can achieve together"

Ophis considered her own knowledge of Devil Peerages "Won't they already know that"

Minato nodded "I at least hope they do, even if it won't teach most of them something new it'll help Issei and Asia" Minato closed his eyes for a moment "To cultivate one's own self to be better to become a means of support for others and standing together to reach even greater heights as one, that is what I want to teach them"

Ophis looked at Minato with curiosity clear in her eyes "Are you, speaking from experience?"

"Yeah" Minato said softly, picturing SEES with him and those he bonded with over what would the last year of his life "It was because of them I am the person I am now, they helped me grow into a better version of myself and I can never thank them enough for it"

"Isn't the term ideal self rather than better?" Ophis asked, fishing for more information on Minato's past to better control him later on.

Minato slightly smiled "It is, but I prefer chasing after a better version of myself" Minato said '_Besides, as people change so does their idea of an ideal self and to accept oneself of reaching their ideal being is tantamount to accepting no upper feat and becoming complacent in their fall from grace_' "I prefer using the notion of an ideal self as a guiding light, one that changes as I do as I grow to be a better person through the trials I face and the bonds I make"

"Bonds?" Ophis questioned, wondering if that was somehow connecting to his strange Persona Powers.

"The connections we have with others, like the one between us or with Bridget, the Nakajimas, Kiyome, Satou and everyone else we come across in our lives big or small" Minato explained, he paused as Ophis stood up and turned to face him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"If bonds can help you grow and be better, then does that mean I make you better?" Ophis pointed to herself, wishing to know if she understood Minato's logic.

Her question earned her a head pat "Yeah, I've grown and improved myself since we meet and I hope it's be the same for you"

Ophis considered his words and thought back on her time with him, her discovering new things and living among those who seemed warm for lack of a better word. She went into music to drown out the more annoying noise of the world with something more tolerable and became fond of the art, which led her to learning to dance to enrich her epenice of it. She couldn't have imagined herself being where she is now several months ago"

"Yeah" Ophis spoke softly "I think it is" Ophis looked to Minato with a smile "I'm glad we met, I never expected these turn of events when I went out hunting for the one who stole my powers"

"Nor when I went to meet with my stalker in a park in the middle of the night" Minato stood up and dusted himself off "Alright, ready to continue?" receiving an eager nod from the little Dragon God Minato nodded towards Orpheus to begin playing another song.

As he did, an unspoken command was given to the master of strings who began drawing upon its power in earnest. In myth Orpheus's music moved the world and the gods, using a little of that power to give a little extra challenge to the Occult Research Club wasn't a tall order by any means.

* * *

"Ack! Why is there another stone in my shoe!?" Kiba asked as he quickly dug out the offending pebble and easily rejoined the others as they made their way up the path.

The sky overhead was painfully obvious; it was nearly sundown, they were running out of time to defeat Minato and at most had little under half an hour of time left.

Arriving at the end of the path they came to a clearing overlooking the cliffside, they could see the sun already halfway below the peak of the mountains and that it was lowering further by the minute.

Even though their time limit was painful to see it wasn't what they all focused on, instead it was Minato whose shadow seemed to stretch and engulf them all as the setting sun shining behind him seemed to give him a halo behind his head.

He sat upon a large rock playing a lyre with a content expression, the red bandana that was their target bellowed around his neck as wind lifted leaves that had fallen to the ground into the air for a moment. He turned to the Occult Research Club and for a moment it seemed his eyes glowed as he looked to them, a smile on his face.

"Well, you're cutting it a bit close. But after your performance I know for certain that you can beat Phenex in the upcoming rating game" Minato looked over the Occult Research Club, haggard and seemingly nearing their limit, ready to push on to achieve victory.

While not one for pride, Minato allowed himself a moment to bask in the improvements his 'charges' have made.

"Perhaps, but I think it's prudent to assure our victory by having you join" Rias said as she stood in front of her peerage, each and every one of them standing ready for their king's order.

Minato lost his smile "We're still doing that?"

Rias ordered her peerage forward, they rushed forward in a formation to grab the bandana around his neck.

As they drew closer Minato realized his mistake, he gave them too much confidence and it was beginning to change into arrogance. As their Tamer, he had to rectify this problem.

"Look out!" Akeno's words were the only warning they got before several figures made themselves known.

From the ground a large tree sprouted from the ground only to peel open to reveal the Minato clones they had been dealing with over the past hours.

The one who stole Asia and put her through mental trials and obstacle courses had parts of their skin gain a woody color and texture, a crown of flowers seeming to grow from their head.

The one who kicked Koneko through the air like a football held a staff over their shoulders, their mannerisms becoming more animal-like as time went on.

The one who entrapped Kiba in a tiny magic dome to nullify his speed advantage had gained several new weapons after his shield was destroyed, at the moment they were wielding two swords with the left blade held in a reverse grip.

The who placed Akeno in a series of mental trials had notably grown larger, standing a head taller than the next tallest person.

The one who faced against Rias seemed to be the least changed, the only notable difference being it's eyes turning red.

The one who faced Issei was the most changed, it wore dragon themed armor with scales covering its body with hands turned into claws and a helmet styled after a dragon's head whose mouth opened to show a very battle hungry human face.

The battle between the two groups was a grueling dragged out one as what were singular intimidating titans to the group of Devils now stood shoulder to shoulder displaying teamwork outstripping their own, admittedly the teamwork part was mainly due to them being all Personas connected to Minato.

As the eleventh hour neared its end, as the shadows grew longer and deeper, Issei held Boosted Gear above his head as he cried out as one with the Welsh Dragon "Boosted Gear, Over booster!"

Draconic energy erupted from him as a red exoskeleton form with gauntlets, boots, a chest plate and a helmet with a green visor. Pulling back his fist Issei roared as the energy in his hand changed into a dragon's head, punching forward the dragon head flew as it gained the body of a western dragon.

And as it flew it completely missed everyone as it flew overhead, Minato turned to Issei to tell the young man he had missed when he saw it.

Issei, exhausted but smiling.

Looking again, Minato realized Issei hadn't missed his target. The mass of energy in the form of a dragon was headed straight for the mountain the sun had nearly completely been obscured by, that attack was to buy more time not to end the fight in one shot.

Frowning Minato's fingers hastily danced upon the lyre, a barely noticeable green energy washed over him and his avatars, D11 flew into the air and raced to pass Issei's attack. Once in front of it D11 held out their arms to catch the attack, whispering two words to themselves.

"Five Elements"

The dragon deformed and took the shape of a sphere before rocketing back towards it's sender, Issei tried to gather the strength for another attack but found himself too tired as he fell to his knees.

As the attack drew near Rias called upon the power of destruction to cancel the attack only to see her first attempt fail, she tried and found greater success as her power kept the ball of dragon energy at bay even as it left her in a beam struggle.

Rias pushed back harder, the power of destruction flaring around her for a moment before she pulled it back with a flinch.

The clash of energy came to an end with both the power of destruction and the ball of dragon energy dissipating, as everyone began to catch their breath they saw something that made their hearts sink.

The sun had set over the horizon and Minato still wore the red bandana. The Occult Research Club had lost.

* * *

"Okay, talk to you later" Minato ended his phone call as he collected his things before leaving the training camp. He had already said goodbye to everyone before handing them each letters from their trainers, each one detailing their different thoughts and opinions on the progress of each devil.

Walking outside he found Issei and Rias waiting for him, checking his watch he saw he still had a few minutes before his ride home arrived. Raising a hand in greeting he approached the two.

"Hey. So, you're seriously leaving already?" Issei looked at Minato's bag for a moment, he packed light so he wasn't having any issue carrying his things "I know we made a deal and everything but your seriously not joining-"

In an instant Minato crossed the distance between him and Issei to give the newly turned devil a painful flick to the forehead "Ack!"

"For starters, don't go back deals. It'll make you little friends and create countless enemies" Minato placed the hand into his trouser pocket "And second, yes I'm leaving already. I have a full day tomorrow so I'll need to leave as soon as possible"

"Thank you for your help Mr. Arisato, for as brief as it was" Rias bowed her head "I'll be sure to wire you your payment as soon as I return"

"You don't have to pay me" Minato offered the surprised devils an amused grin "I'm merely a classmate helping out another, so don't worry too much about" Minato looked to the side and scratched his cheek "That, and considering how this could be seen as or twisted into, it'll probably be for the best if we leave as little a paper trail as possible and keep this under wraps"

Rias winced "Still, it feels wrong not to give you something"

"An invitation to your victory party?" Minato suggested near instantly.

Rias smiled lightly "That seems fair, and I suppose if we lose-" Rias was cut off as she got a forehead flick like her pawn mere moments ago "Ow!"

"No more negative talk out of you, give it your all genuinely and you'll claim victory. Besides" Minato said, pausing as a monstrous howl could be heard from the mountains before a ball of flames flew towards them "I'd be a terrible guest at that wedding"

The fireball landed near them releasing a wave of heat that washed over everyone, Rias and Issei jumped backwards to gain some distance while Minato calmly approached the fireball as the flames receded to reveal Bridget in her giant form.

"Hey girls" Minato said before Bridget walked over to him and gave him licks from all three heads.

"Wah-Wah?" Rias looked befuddled at the three headed hellhound before her, she took a step back when the head with blue eyes locked onto her and Issei before growling with what she knew were holy flames dancing around its mouth.

"Easy Alexa, their friendly" Minato jumped onto the hellhound's back and rubbed Alexa's head.

"Minato, what is that?!" Issei asked as he pointed to Bridget.

"My charge, a hellhound" the three heads let their flames dance around their teeth for a moment "a hellhound able to burn things in three different types of fire"

Bridget turned around and began walking away with Minato on her back "See you all back at school" with those last words from Minato Bridget took off in full sprint racing through the darkness and leaving the surprised Devils with their mouths hanging open.

* * *

"A Hellhound capable of using holy fire" Kiba said, they had all gathered outside when they heard the motrious howl and came ready to fight. What there weren't expecting was for Minato to ride a hellhound back home "It's the first time I've heard of such a thing"

"Heads up, it wasn't just holy fire" Koneko called out, she got closer to the spot Bridget had landed and looked it over even as it made her uncomfortable "I'm not a hundred percent, but I think I'm picking up some fey fire as well"

Issei looked to his smallest teammate confused "The heck is a fey fire, something to do with fairies?"

"Your close" Akeno said "Fey fire is basically regular magic fire further enhanced by druidic or nature power, it just so happens fairies are the most well known users of this power"

"Well, he did say his hellhound could use three different types of fire" Issei scratched his head before turning to Asia to see her deep in thought "Hey, everything alright?"

"Oh, it's nothing" Asia reassured Issei "It's just I vaguely remembered something I overheard from a kindly priest from England I met once about church grim, guardian spirit dogs that guard cemeteries. All the talk about dogs with holy fire made me remember it, though I never heard of a three headed one before"

"No offense to Minato, but the more I hear about his hellhound the more mismatch it sounds" Issei turned to Rias "I mean, isn't hell fire and holy fire polar opposites?"

Rias was about to answer Issei's question when she realized something, it was a bit of a mismatch and something she thought of as impossible to be natural. Meaning it had to be something artificial made from experiments or a sacred gear, her mind drifted back to Kiyome complimenting Minato's knowledge of supernatural creatures.

"Did we ever learn what Sacred Gear Minato had?" Rias asked, the gears in her head beginning to turn as different pieces of information began coming together.

Everyone looked amongst themselves for a moment, caught off guard but the sudden change in conversation "We didn't, even when we took him in to ask him who he was he claimed to not have a sacred gear" Akeno answered.

"We mostly just assumed those fire and ice powers were either magic or a sacred gear he was unaware of or unwilling to talk about" Kiba continued, stepping forward to Rias "President, is everything alright?"

Rias looked over her gathered peerage, her family and friends, and asked them the question dogging her mind.

"What if his Sacred Gear was a creation type, one able to make a hellhound with the powers of three different breeds put together and creating our trainers from earlier in the day?"

With the exception of Asia and Issei the other members of the Gremoy peerage widened their eyes "Is there something like that really out there?" Issei asked.

"Annihilation Maker" Ddraig spoke aloud, a glowing green circle appeared on Issei's left hand "That's what you're suggesting, isn't it"

Seeing the confused expressions Issei and Asia wore, Kiba explained it to them "Annihilation Maker is one of the Thirteenth Longinus, like Boosted Gear, it's widely acknowledged as the most powerful creation type sacred gear"

"The only limit to what it could create is the user's own imagination, for that reason it's been called the sacred gear with the power to end the world" Ddraig continued "Though, I have to ask what led you to thinking this?"

"It's not just the hellhound he rode away on a few minutes ago, it's also concerning those trainers he brought in" Rias thought back the long hours they fought in the mock rating game against Minato "Didn't they seem too well picked for us individually? I understand Tamers can have expansive connections but finding those individuals would have taken more than the few days before the training camp. And" Rias paused uncertain if she should continue.

Seeing her friend and king's hesitation Akeno stepped forward to encourage her to say what was on her mind.

"Before our final fight, I could have been convinced that we were all fighting in an illusion" Rias turned to Issei, causing everyone to focus on the pawn "At least until your Dragon Blast, Issei. An illusion couldn't have reflected it back, nor destroy it"

"But, we all saw you destroy it before it could hit us. If not you, then who?" Asia asked.

Rias folded her arms "When I used my Power of Destruction I let my control slip for a moment, in that moment I pulled it back fearing I could hurt someone. The reflected dragon attack would have shot through if a tiny sphere of destruction barely bigger then a fly hadn't stopped it" Rias looked to the others uncertain "I'm not sure how, but I think he was somehow able to replicate the Power of Destruction with his creations"

"Let's not get too hasty," Kiba said, feeling things were beginning to get out of hand. "Did you see his creation use the power of destruction?"

Rias shook her head "No, I didn't but I felt it. That and the letter I was given afterwards explicitly told me to stop being afraid of my own power, written by another who can wield it"

"Um" Asia spoke up "I'm not sure how useful this is, but when Issei used Dragon Blast I thought I saw Minato whisper something as he played his lyre before Issei's attack was deflected back" Asia looked around everyone "Maybe that lyre was magical?"

"Annihilation Maker can create anything the user imagines, if they have a robust enough understanding it's not impossible for it's wielder to replicate the powers of others. Heck, creating items of power based on that knowledge could feasible be a subspecies for it" Ddraig said, adding more credence to Rias's suspicions.

"Subspecies?" Issei asked.

Koneko looked in the direction she could sense the hellhound took "Meaning we lost our chance to recruit possibly the strongest user of a Longinus sacred gear"

Everyone looked in the direction Koneko was staring at, knowing full well they couldn't offer Minato Peerage after their deal.

"Well, we can't invite him. Nothing was said about not befriending him with the hope of him reconsidering later down the line" Rias said, a plan of action forming in her mind.

'_An invitation to your victory party?_' Minato's suggestion repeated in her mind, she wasn't considering the idea of a victory party before but that had changed. A smile graced Rias's lips.

Minato sneezed, having the feeling someone was talking about him.

* * *

When Minato met Issei again a week later the devil pervert held the biggest proudest smile he had seen on him, telling Minato excitedly that they had won the rating game.

He went over to the Occult Research Club to congratulate them all for winning, he was barely through the door before being asked when he was free.

Several days later and Minato found himself with the Occult Research Club and Student Council in the Underworld for Rias victory celebration, he could have brought a plus one with him but the only ones he knew personally involved with the supernatural could be counted on one hand.

Kiyome refused to go under any reason or reassurance, Ophis refused to go and insisted on him taking one of her snakes with him in case of emergencies and Minato didn't think they'd let him take Bridget with him.

The party itself was, for lack of a better word, extravagant. So much so that a part of Minato felt he came under dressed for the occasion with a simple dress shirt and trousers, though the rest didn't even consider it.

"So, are you enjoying yourself?" Minato turned to see Sona coming over to him with a smile, in the sea of unfamiliar faces it was honestly nice for Minato to see one he was vaguely familiar with.

Minato raised his glass of water "Yeah, though I'm not used to something like this"

Sona nodded "Understandable, something like this isn't an everyday thing even among the Devil nobles" Sona smiled as she raised her glass to her lips "You know, part of this is actually a thank you from Rias"

"I had my suspicions" Minato looked around the various Devils around him "Be honest with me, how many Devils did I piss off by helping Rias with this?"

"No one really" Sona said reassuringly "Nearly no one knows your involvement and those who do know don't take it personally" Sona expression softened slightly "And even if one where to have issue with you, both I and Rias will stand with you which will be a detrimental to most"

Minato turned back to Sona "Thank you" Minato met Sona's eyes with a blank expression "You want training too, don't you?"

"You come highly recommended"

"Sorry, I'm not taking on any more training jobs for a while" Minato scratched his cheek as he looked away from Sona "My mentor's lecture on how irresponsible I was even considering my previous job is still ringing in my ear" Minato's mind wandered back to Kiyome's lecture in vivid detail, along with the scroll with teleportation magic to take him back to Kouh "So, we'll need to wait until I get a full license first"

"That's fair. I-" Sona stiffened as a very loud and distinct cry of 'Sona-tan' could be heard "have to go, talk to you later"

Minato watched as Sona briskly walked away to another corner of the large room, Minato looked around trying to spot the Occult Research Club or the Student Council but failed to find anyone. Rias, Issei and Asia hung around him near constantly when the party had begun and right now they were nowhere in sight.

Spotting a glass door leading to an inner garden Minato went over to it to get some fresh air and to get away from the noise and crowd of people, even as a certain set of eyes tracked him.

_Meanwhile, in one of the outer gardens._

When Rias learned Riser was among the visiting nobles who came to congratulate her on her victory she was tempted to force him to leave, it was only preventing him from causing a scene that led her to meeting him out of public view with her peerage. She expected many things.

"Riser would like to congratulate you and your Peerage on a spectacular debut performance for your first rating game" Riser said with an earnest smile.

Hearing genuine praise was NOT what Rias expected.

Rias, caught flatfooted, did her best to articulate a proper response and instead stuttered out a "W-What?"

Riser cleared his throat "Riser, wishes to congratulate you and yours on their victory. Riser also hopes we get to fight again in the pro leagues when you enter"

Issei stood forward defensively "So you can beat Rias and force her to be your wife?"

"Of course not" Riser said resolutely "Rias won the rating game fair and square, Riser is merely looking forward to a rematch without the drama behind it" Riser thought for a moment, his hand rubbing his chin "If there is to be a wager, Riser will not accept anything more then a modest meal paid by the losers"

"Aren't you upset you're not marrying Rias?" Issei asked, his bravado giving way to confusion "I mean, look at her?"

Riser looked between Rias and her peerage "Yes, I can see what you mean. Riser could write a thousand poems and not even properly convey the beauty of her entirety"

Ravel nodded with the tiniest of smiles gracing her lips, she moved forward to tell her brother that they've taken up enough of Rias's time and it was time for them to leave like they practiced.

"That, and without that spark it would have been a cold marriage between us"

Ravel pinched her brother's back, her expression slightly strained "Brother, we have taken up enough of their time. Perhaps it's time we were on our way"

"Wait a minute!" Rias called out, her eyes locked on Riser in disbelief "Are you trying to say, you DIDN'T want to get married either, you honestly expect me to believe that?"

Riser let out a defeated sigh "Well, since it slipped out. Yes Rias, I did not want to get married either. Riser would prefer marrying for love"

"Then why didn't you say anything" Rias hiss with frustration clear in her voice "If you did we could have put this whole thing behind us earlier"

Riser and Ravel shared a look between them before looking back at Rias with confusion "Rias, you do KNOW about the difference in our social standing?" Riser asked.

Rias narrowed her eyes "Why should that matter?"

"Spoken like someone secure in her castle" Ravel muttered under her breath, Koneko narrowed her eyes at the youngest of the Phenex Family.

Riser rubbed his forehead "Okay, Rias. Riser is going to describe the political connections you have to his knowledge so please speak up if Riser gets something wrong"

"The Gremory's hold the title of Duke; a title carrying more weight than the Phenex's own Marquis and that's not mentioning your own mother's connection to the de facto ruling family of the remaining thirty two pillars who hold the title of Grand King, Bael" Riser waited for Rias or anyone else to say something, when no one spoke he continued "That of course not factoring in that your own brother holds one of the four highest positions of power in our society, and through your connection with the Sitri heiress you have two Satans backing you"

"I wouldn't use Sona, her family or my own like that" Rias stressed, causing Riser to pause.

Riser gave her a respectful nod "An honorable course of action, though one that would have a chance of failure" Riser gestured to himself and Ravel "In comparison, all we Phenex's have is our powers that have allowed us to amass a fortune through Pheonix Tears and a significantly lower title of Marquis"

"Even so, if you said something we could have stopped this all together" Rias countered.

"Rias, you are heir apparent to House Gremory while I'm the third son of my own family" Riser stressed out "Extra children in royal families are kept around as either spares in case the first child dies or is married off in political marriages, and I'm sure you're well aware Phenex's don't die easily and are more valuable alive due to out Pheonix tears" Riser shoulder slumped "Even then, chances are my older brother would have been made your new fiancée. We all have responsibilities for our families and there wasn't much left for me to take up, other then be married off and saving my sister from the same fate by having her join my Peerage"

"Wait, how does that stop her from being forced into marriage?" Issei asked as he pointed to Ravel.

"With arranged marriage if one of the parents oppose it it can't go through, unless it marriage is for maintaining pure bloodline in which case it goes through" Ravel turned to her brother and offered him a smile "But, if the king of a peerage I'm apart of opposes the marriage as well it's blocked"

"Devil Law, frustratingly rigid with the odd exploitable loophole" Riser nodded "It was a simple matter, my sister is spared my fate and all blame will be pinned on the 'black sheep' of Phenex" he meet Rias's gaze with his own "In truth, you alone held the power to stop this arranged marriage Rias, I myself was more of a prisoner then you know"

Rias lowered her head, she kept a close eye on Riser and Ravel looking for any sign they were lying but found nothing but truth. She was about to say something when a thought crossed her mind "Wait a minute, were you acting to make me dislike you so I would turn to my brother to cancel our engagement?"

Riser stiffened "Riser was being himself" facing Rias's glare he looked to the side "Though, I admit I may have played up an aspect or two of myself that are, what's the phrase, an acquired taste"

Kiba facepalmed "This is getting ridiculous"

"So Riser, have you said everything you want or is there anything else? Akeno said as she looked back to the ongoing party.

Riser stood straight "Beyond giving praise, I was hoping to put our past behind us and burying any particular hatchets. I do not expect friendship rather ceasing any particular hostilities"

Rias and her peerage looked among themselves for a moment, after a silent conversation between them Rias turned back to Riser with a neutral expression "We don't gain anything from keeping any hostilities with you and yours, so starting over seems acceptable for now"

"I'll admit, this side of you is a lot less scary then the one we've seen up to know" Asia said with a smile.

Issei rubbed the back of his head "I was pretty pissed at you from before, but having you be 'eaten' by Dragon Blast and getting to see this side of you" Issei reach out his hand for Riser to take, seeing this the third son of Phenex shook Issei's hand with a small grin "I guess I shouldn't be so quick to judge others"

Riser's grin fell as his grip on Issei's hand tightened "Issei Hyoudou, if you take one thing from this meeting then let it be this warning" Issei looked into Riser's eyes, he saw a flame in them that held the danger and destruction he saw on full display in the rating game and yet it also held a warmth that offered protection from the cold and the dark "Be cautious when dealing with Devils, for just as there are Devils like Rias who offer kindness there are also Devils who will come to you with a gentle smile and a hand of friendship" Riser's eyes seemed to glow before he finished his warning "Before bleeding you like a pig for the slightest amusement"

Minato noticed someone approaching him and turned to the Devil in question.

"I'm sorry, may I bother you for a moment" the young devil offered Minato his hand to shake "I'm Diodora Astaroth, and I need to speak to regarding a private matter"

* * *

Diodora's Perspective.

* * *

Diodora Astaroth could barely keep himself from smiling ear to ear as he saw the human that was with Gremory and Sitri walking with Asia into his property, the unknown human hidden by a cloak while Asia was wearing her priestess outfit.

He didn't know anything about the human in question or for what reason he was even there at the Gremory heir's party, perhaps she and the Sitri heir shared a pet secret they didn't want others to know, it honestly didn't matter.

Asia seemed quite comfortable around him, going by how she seemed to stick to his side the most during the party and holding several private conversations he was unable to make out due to the noise of the crowd, so a little nudge was all that was needed to have him bring her to him.

He wasn't entirely sure what had happened at the church Asia was staying at in Kuoh, all Diodora knew was powerful light magic forced him to flee not wishing to draw the ire of whatever angel had made itself known or the potential scrutiny he would be under if he was found there. He truly thought he had lost her to the heavens.

But now Asia was here, in his territory where it would be simple to woo her before breaking her like the others, and in case anything goes wrong he had his peerage with him to take care of any concern.

As Diodora basked in his perceived victory as the doors shut behind the two humans an overwhelming pressure filled the room, it grew more and more intense as all Devils were brought to their knees.

Diodora felt his heart beating a mile a minute as his body worked against him, a primal instinct he had never experienced taking over his body as it groveled on the ground. Clenching his teeth Diodora did his best to raise his head, fighting through whatever had taken him, using the power of Ophis he obtained through the Khaos Brigade to help him.

The sound of shattering glass rang out as the pressure grew a hundred fold, Diodora fell to the ground again as even the power of Ophis's serpent was not enough. His eyes widened as he felt the serpent leave him.

**I am Thou, Thou art I**

**A Great Duke of Hell, one of the Trinity of Evil**

**Through Laziness and vanity, I lead men astray.**

**Twenty ninth of seventy two, I am Astaroth**

The pressure lessened allowing Diodora to raise his head, as he did he was overcome with awe as he saw what was before him. Even if he hadn't seen the portraits he could tell by some preprogrammed instinct that the one before him was the progenitor of his house, a being beyond a Devil, the Demon Astaroth.

The Great Duke looked down to Diodora with an unreadable expression "I have come to judge the heir to my name, young devil"

"You're an absolute disgrace, unfit to carry my name" Diodora recoiled at the demon's words as if struck, his pride unable to accept those words but unable to refute them as he knew the Demon before him was his better "That is, unless you can prove me otherwise" Astaroth smiled, it's hand raised as if inviting Diodora "peel away your façade, show me the devil you really are"

"At once, my lord" Diodora began to move towards his servants, inteading to put on a display to please the returned Demon Progenitor, Diodora's body locked up before he was forcefully made to turn to Astaroth.

"In front of me, reveal to me your devil self" Astaroth looked to Diodora with a frown "Unless, have you devils been playing around in human form you've forgotten what you truly are?"

"Wha-what?" Diodora asked, not knowing what the demon before him was demanding.

Astaroth shook their head "Pathetic, very well. Let me help you remember" Astarith raised their hand "What a devil is"

A sickening crack rang out before Diodora began screaming, his body slowly changing as each and every alteration done to his body was a new pain he felt. Hands and feet turned to claws as scales spread across his entire body, new wings sprung from his back with his first set of wings reshaping to mimic the new set.

As it seemed to come to an end Diodora looked towards a mirror to see himself, he shut his eyes unable to see his new appearance, new eyes formed on his shoulders forcing the heir of Astaroth to see the misshapen reptile-like monster he had become.

"I'm hideous!" Diodora cried out, Astaroth's laughter adding to his misery.

"What, don't you like how the Devil's of Astaroth look?" Astaroth came over to Diodora with a cruel smile on the demon's lips "Want to know why angels and demons take on human form?" Diodora stood locked in place, Astaroth's arm was around him and his hand gripping his shoulder with such strength Diodora knew his shoulder was ready to be shattered into dust "Angel's take human form so as to not scare humans, only showing their true forms to prophets. Demons, and devils by extension, do it to honor our mother and to _mock **God**_"

Diodora cried out again, his shoulder crushed under Astaroth's grip and his newly formed eye filling with blood. A light shone behind him causing Diodora to turn around and see his peerage in a teleportation circle with Asia standing in the center of their unconscious.

"WaIt! tHeIr MiNe!" Diodora reached out, his voice becoming distorted, before being slammed against the wall by Astaroth, Diodora looked to Asia and met her gaze. It was only then that Diodora saw uncaring reptilian eyes, Ophis's serpent coiling around her feet before merging together.

'_Ophis!?_' Diodora thought before Astaroth grabbed his throat, he looked into the demon's eyes and saw a deep rage.

"You know, you would be dead right now along with everything else for miles around, if it wasn't for my other self holding me back" Astaroth whispered, the human who brought Ophis came over to Diodora with an entire set of Evil Pieces destroyed behind him.

"Other self?" Diodora asked, not understanding what was happening.

"You inherited my name, him" Astaroth turned to the human "He got everything that was important"

'_Everything else, what is he?'_ Diodora asked himself as he looked to the human '_Is, is he Astaroth reborn?!'_

The human grabbed Diodora's head, it's very grip burning Diodora as it wielded strength beyond what a human was capable of.

"He won't survive the trail, I already know"

"Then let his last moments be that of a nightmare, a Hell of his own making" the human said, speaking for the first time since arriving. His voice causing greater awe than the Great Duke of Hell, Astaroth laughter followed Diodora as he hell into darkness.

* * *

**Side Story: Returning son.**

It wasn't long before Kenzou met someone in his travels, he wasn't even out of the forest before coming across a Hakutaku with several Tengu guards accompanying her.

He was familiar with the powers of Hakutaku, their ability to see events in the past and predict potential futures had made them good candidates for being advisors, and he knew the one before him to an extent.

Hui Hoshino was often consulted on matters from small personal matters, such as the well being of a couple's child, to major political ones, she was even seen alongside the current leader of Yokai from time to time.

He went to her once, asking if there was a future she could see where he was better than what he was.

She avoided the question, refusing to answer either from pity or kindness Kenzou didn't know, her silence on the matter giving him the answer she refused to say. It wasn't long after before it took the devil's offer.

Now, that same oracle stood before him after he was freed from the chains of devilkind giving him the most confused and yet happy expression he had ever seen in his life. It was actually rather cute, Kenzou thought to himself.

They escorted him back to Kyoto, the Tengu guards were silent the entire trip while Kenzou and Hui made small talk with him, keeping vague on what he went through. They had a small detour when Kenzou entered an active church, he told Hui it was to see what it was like when in truth it was a means to test to see if he was free, as he listened to the hymns of the congregation and even held a relic without pain it was enough to bring Kenzou to tears.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Kyoto, the journey back to his home seemed longer than it was as the sights and sounds brought back old memories of his childhood and happier times. Arriving at his old home Kenzou met his father as soon as he arrived, kowtowing before him Kenzou apologized for leaving without saying anything. He wanted to let his family know he was sorry for everything and was prepared to do whatever it took to make things right, understanding if they didn't want anything to do with him.

Receiving a tight hug from his father was not something Kenzou expected.

"Welcome home, son" the relief in his voice broke a damn with Kenzou, crying again as he returned the hug. Thanking Minato for granting him a second chance.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Kyoto.

"He was supposed to die" Mui said as she meet with the leader of Yokai in private, she offered up thanks to the gods that Yasaka wasn't busy at the moment.

"Perhaps what you saw was more figurative then literal?" Yasaka suggested to her part time oracle, Mui had all but begged for a private meeting with her. Once she learnt it was about the missing son of the Maki she was quick to grant her the meeting, while not close friends Yasaka was on good terms with the matriarch of the Maki clan and seeing her worry about her missing son was a pain she couldn't bear to see.

"No, I am confident of what I saw. There were only two ends for him, dying to a monster or becoming one" Mui said grimly, wincing as the memory of those two visits resurfaced in her mind before fading away to the image of Kenzou shaken yet seemingly fine "Furthermore, I CAN'T see what happened to him that changed his fate"

Those words caught Yasaka's attention. "Hui, what do you think saved Kenzou Maki's life?"

"A Wildcard, Lady Yasaka" Hui said, closing her eyes as everything she knew and pondered came to the forefront "A being whose very existence alters and changes the fate of those around it, seemingly passively from what I can deduce, one that can't have it's past nor future seen"

Yasaka looked out the nearby window, knowing in her field of view the Maki home could be found "Has young Kenzou said anything about this wildcard?"

"Next to nothing I'm afraid, but what I learned is promising" Yasaka turned back to Hui, the Hakutaku smiled gentle "He's placed himself under a vow of silence on the matter, no coercion of magic or threat that I can find, though he speaks of his time in that forest more highly than the rest of the period he was missing"

"Meaning he's protecting this Wildcard of his own volition" Yasaka used her Senjutsu to ensure no could overhear them before she continued, opening a fan to cover the lower half of her voice with her eyes looking over it "Is there any credence to the the rumor Kenzou became a Devil in his absence?"

Mui lowered her head "I'm afraid I do not know, when I went out to learn of his ultimate fate and give his family some of closure I was not expecting to find him as well as he was"

Yasaka closed her eyes "curiouser and curiouser" Yasaka closed her fan, a small smile gracing her lips "For now, all we can do is watch" she looked at the window again with her smile still present "And treat this wildcard as a neutral force, with a potential alliance in mind"

"Ken you JERK!"

Yasaka fox ears flattened against her head, Mui looked out the window alarmed at the loud voice "It seems the Maki family reunion is in full swing"

Yasaka made plans to meet with Kenzou Maki herself before she sends a fox spirit to keep an eye on Kuoh for the immediate future, after all the lease the Devil's held for Kuoh's land specifically mentions being able to send agents so long as their not directly spying on the renting Devils.

* * *

**Omake: Another Route, Army of the Elements.**

The Occult Research Club gathered at the spot Minato planned for them, they expected a lot of things when fighting Minato.

They weren't expecting this.

"Where did this army come from!?" Rias cried out, looking in disbelief at the large collection of what seem to be golems glowing either red, blue, green and yellow. They stood in formation around Minato.

"I made them" Minato answered, looking over the varying reactions of ORC "What, I have hobbies"

Kiba looked unsure of what was happening "Uh, so we have to defeat your army then?"

Minato made a so-so gesture "Kind of, you need to defeat my Four Heavenly Queens before facing against me. These ones here will be providing most of the fighting and trying to stop you"

No sooner had Minato spoken those words did the golems begin to change, the red took on a more lizard appearance, the blue's became more refined and beautiful, the greens grew smaller and more nimble with the yellow's becoming bulker. All four began diverging into three subspecies each with a sign of the western zodiac engraved on them.

"Best of luck" Minato said before disappearing, his golems standing ready for battle.

ORC stood as one and charged at the horde.

[several hours later]

Minato checked over the progress of the devils under his tutelage before turning to Ophis "Did I over do it with my creations?"

Ophis didn't answer, instead she focused on all the golems fighting the ORC. Transfixed by their ability to pin and lockdown the movement and actions of the devils.

Minato turned back to his project notes as he tried to think where he went too far. In the beginning he decided to make an army of enemies for the ORC to fight, at their base were the four classical elements of Air (Aeros and Sylph), Earth (Erthys and Gnome), Fire (Flaemis And Salamander) and Water (Aquans and Undine) with seasonal powers added in for flavor. He didn't use the powers of the minor Arcana much so it wasn't a hard decision adding Minor Arcana powers to the corresponding element, he even added some powers based on the French Suit of Cards due to their connection to the Minor arcana.

Looking back, he could have stopped then. But he wasn't sure if they'd be enough variety for the ORC so he decided to add in powers for the twelve western zodiac with each element gaining three each. At that point he just wanted to see what else he could make so he created special 'Jack Prince' units who wielded all three of their element's zodiacs, creating the Queens to act as Commanders for his forces was definitely where things got out of hand.

Their connection was a bit less solid but he was able to sort Pawn, Bishop, Rook and Knight powers for each force, he stopped himself after he gave his Heavenly Queens the blessings of The Four Heavenly Kings of buddhist myth and the Four Symbols of Chinese Constellations.

"Ah~ It's a smaller Koneko, one with cat ears~" Issei said as he saw the Heavenly Queen of Earth.

"I'm a tiger! Gravity Punch!" The Heavenly Queen of Earth said before using gravity magic to send Issei flying.

...Though he only did that after granting some degree of power over the four fundamental forces of the universe. He really should have stopped before then.

Still there was one thing he didn't understand, why were all his Commanders cute girls?

Originally he hadn't planned on giving them genders but once it became clear they were going to turn out much more human looking due to the process of making them he chose to make it an even slip, except the ones who were supposed to be male turned female without warning during the final step.

He created two Joker units to see where it went wrong but even with all of his Personas and every precaution they all turned out to be cute girls, if Minato didn't know any better who would suspect he was in a-

Minato paused, pieces of information suddenly lining up as a grim realization began to take form.

A mostly girl school, a guy with an OP power with intent to create a harem, questionable fashion being worn almost exclusively by girls.

"Oh, Axiom. I'm in a battle action harem ecchi series aren't I" Minato said to himself as he fell to his knees, Ophis looked at Minato confused as she offered comforting pats on the back. While off to the side a pair of twins wearing jester outfits were playing with their card before coming over to see what was ailing their maker.

* * *

**Author's note**

**OVER TWENTY THOUSAND WORDS (+20.000)**

**Goodness this chapter alone almost doubles the entire word count of this series of snippets, it really got out of hand. One thing led to another and it all spiraled from there.**

**But, it's done and now to go over some things to ensure there isn't any confusion for what happens in this chapter.**

**Kenzou was in the middle of transforming into a full on mutated Stray Devil that ORC fight as mooks, his strength of will is what kept him sane where many others would have gone mad.**

**Just to be clear, I'm not going to bash on the whole Devils and Peerage thing but I won't shy away from how the thing can be abused.**

**The Evil Piece being Inert is basically due to the process of reversing the transformation causing it to more out less shut down, it will stay that way until someone reactivates it.**

**Ophis doesn't want people to know about Minato's power so she went out of her way to give him access to magic spells so he won't use Personas too often and is willingly to allow others to believe Minato is Wielding AM as it would better hide his powers and keeping the real user of AM in the shadows.**

**Ophis's normal clothes is the gothic lolita style she is typically seen wearing while her causual outfit is the one she's seen wearing in this fics pic.**

**Minato creating Avatars works like this, he creates empty vessels for Personas to move around in. One Persona could use it's power no problem but the more Personas that are in that vessel the more diluted the powers become unless they share a theme (such as warriors) or belong to a group (Arthurian Legend, 72 Pillars). The vessels haven't been perfected as it was made clear with them changing during their fight with ORC**

**In these series of snippets the origins of Tamers is varied as different branches sprung up all over the world at one point or another before coming together under one banner. Cryptid became a more generalized term to describe the beings Tamers take on to train.**

**Speaking of Cryptids and Charges, Minato got his first monster. A chimera hellhound named Bridget made up of a Church Grim (graveyard Guardian Spirit), whose head is named Alexa, a Cwn Annwn (a hound of the Wild Hound), whose head is named Elda, and a Black Shuck whose head is named Dealla. And some extra stuff added in.**

**Minato fought the crossbreed Hellhound himself until they could get her under control, I was debating on what Minato's first monster should be and I thought I'd make it a hellhound due to Minato's connection with dogs and death. That and it makes a nice reference for the beginning of the SMT series back when it was simply a novel called Digital Devil Story ****Megami Tensei.**

**Bridget's confusion with Ophis is mainly due to them not getting a scent off her or anything else, it was only after Kiyome had Ophis sit on Minato's lap did the hellhound ignore the lack of anything for now to get along with everyone.**

**Yes, Minato can understand what his new chimera Hellhound says. It's part of the new powers he gained, think omni-translator for a general idea.**

**Minato's personas are slowly gaining access to the powers and knowledge of their DxD counterparts, it'll be explored in later snippets but for now just think of it as them getting extra toys to play with.**

**Minato uses Orpheus's power to cause branches to hit the face of ORC along with stones landing in their shoes.**

**The playlist Minato and Ophis danced to is as follow:**

**Persona 3 Tranquility**

**Persona 3 Portable A Way of Life**

**Persona 3 When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars**

**Persona 3 Portable Time**

**Persona 3 Burn My Dread**

**Persona 3 The Movie #4: Winter of Rebirth My Testimony**

**Persona 3 The Movie #1: Spring of Birth More Than One Heart**

**Persona 3 The Movie #2: Midsummer Knight's Dream Fate is In Our Hands **

**Persona 3 Mass Destruction **

**Persona 3 Portable Wiping All Out**

**Persona 3 The Movie #3: Falling Down "Light in Starless Sky"**

**Persona Q Maze of Life**

**Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth Road Less Taken**

**Issei did not achieve Balance Breaker with Minato, he was close and gained a psudo balance breaker form that would evolve into scale mail during the Rating Game with Riser**

**General Advice ORC got:**

**Issei: BE A DEVIL DRAGON!**

**Asia: You may not be able to pray anymore, but you can still honor and praise the Lord through your actions. General keep being you.**

**Koneko: You're not getting much more unless you deal with your issues.**

**Kiba: You got two flames in you, make sure you pick the one that doesn't destroy you. (Revenge VS his new family and friends)**

**Rias: Stop being scared and use you natural born talents**

**Akeno: When your love ones are being stupid, call them out and figure out a better plan. And stop denying who you are.**

**Who were there trainers?**

**Asia= Maria and Danu**

**Rias= Bael and Gremory**

**Kiba= various warriors but primarily Yoshitsune and Bedivere**

**Koneko= Sun Wukong and Nekomana**

**Akeno= Nephilim (Child of Human and Angel), Barchiel (Baraqiel's pre-fall/pure angel)**

**Issei= various dragons**

**Five Elements is a skill in Dx2 (SMT Devil Downloader)**

**Rias and the others thinking Minato has AM is due to them trying to understand how he does things within their worldview, which just so happens to include making Minato possible one of the strongest users of AM. Rias would know about Longinus Sacred Gears due to how famous they are.**

**I decided to go a different route with Riser which made sense to me, he's still the same character but viewed more from a Game of Thrones political games angle. Rereading some of his lines, yes, he more or least told Rias to check her privilege. **

**Diodora went to Minato thinking he would be an easy pawn to get Asia for himself, that backfired on him. Things will continue on from the ending, but put simply Ophis disguise as Asia went with Minato to Diodora and after taking one look Minato unleashed hell before freeing Diodora's peerage. Afterward Astaroth used his authority as a Demon to command all to forget they were there and make sure any records that would get Diodora in trouble remain undisturbed.**

**Hui is an OC like Kenzou, Yasaka doesn't know about Evil Piece being able to be undone and all she knows for sure is that this wildcard saved a Yokai from a grim fate and is living near Devil Territory. And yes, in this the Devils are renting the land Kouh is built on from the Shinito faction.**

**If your curious what the Four Heavenly Queens and the two Jesters look like search for:**

**Air: Valkyrie crusade Azure Dragon**

**Water: Valkyrie crusade Black Tortoise**

**Earth: Valkyrie crusade White Tiger**

**Fire: Valkyrie crusade Vermilion Bird**

**Trickster 1: Valkyrie crusade Joker (Black and White outfit)**

**Trickster 2: Valkyrie crusade Joker (Blue and Red outfit)**


	11. Halloween Special

**Author's Notes: Have a Surpise Halloween Special Chapter**

* * *

"Hall. O. Ween?" Ophis read the decorations that suddenly popped up around the town, a sea of orange and black with items resembling numerous creatures made with varying quality. Her gaze was drawn to several pastries covered either in blobs of white with two pieces of chocolate meant to represent eyes or covered in insects.

Ophis turned to Minato who meet her gaze, without any prompting Minato nodded "Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve due to it taking place before All Hallow's day, is an Autumn Festival that some believe ward off evil spirits due to the barriers separating the Spirit and Material Worlds grow thinnest around this time" Minato looked over the pastries for a moment before turning back to Ophis "Though, the modern version of Halloween is pretty much an amalgamation of several other similar holidays"

Ophis nodded "And what do people do during this celebration?"

Minato scratched his head "Really depends on the individuals" Minato and Ophis began walking down the street "Some people observe old traditions which may include festivals, watching or read scary stories, begin preparing for Christmas" Minato said that last one under his breath "Though it's common for people to dress up as monsters or other figures for parties or going out trick or treating for candy"

"Candy" Ophis repeated, she quickly grabbed Minato's hand "Let's go Trick or Treating"

Minato stopped as he considered Ophis's request, he didn't really have any other plans for Halloween nor did he take any special note of it other than being another day in the year. Still, it couldn't hurt.

"Alright" Minato looked around searching for a place that sold costumes for the upcoming night. Sadly, there was nothing Ophis liked so with a short list of what she wanted Minato collected the needed materials and began working on a costume for her. And something a little special for himself, as they were Trick or Treating Minato got a call from Aika needing him and Ophis for something urgent.

**===]Image of Dragon Witch Ophis with a trick or treating bag with a Nyx Avatar Minato with one of his own standing in the doorway of house with the light from inside shining on Ophis with Minato in the Shadows with only his mask and bag visible[===**

For his first Halloween in this world Minato would admit he's enjoying himself.

"Minato, what are you wearing?" Aika asked as she looked Minato up and down, she herself was wearing a tasteful sexy devil outfit. They were meeting in a closed Gentle Etiquette due to the Nakajima's feeling it was a bad omen to remain open on Halloween.

Minato raised a black gloved hand to give it a look over "Dressing up as something scary, like you suggested"

Aika put her hands on her hips as she gave Minato a disbelieving look "Huh, how is that scary? Honestly, you'd probably be better off dressing as your character in-" Aika paused as Minato turned her head to her. Under the eyeless stare she took a step back "Okay, I take it back that is creepy. What is it even from?"

"A Memory from long ago" Minato said, catching his reflection in a mirror and wincing at the sight of Nyx Avatar staring back. Turning to Ophis to distract himself Minato saw the Dragon God had stuffed her cheeks with her trick or treat candy already "Save some for later, otherwise you'll make yourself sick Phis"

"I am Ophis" Ophis stood up on her chair, her Dragon Witch outfit bellowing from the sudden movement "The Infinite Dragon God, I can not get sick"

"Ah~" Aika cooed as she hugged Ophis without warning "Your just so cute Phis!" Aika looked down at Ophis costume, a black and purple witch's outfit with dragon scales and clawed gloves added on with a Dragon tail hidden by the witch's cape "Not to sound rude, but I'm still shocked at how well you made her outfit"

Aika turned to Minato with a frown "Seriously, with your skills your making yourself out to be a better future wife then me"

"While I plan on being a doctor, house husband is a backup of mine" Minato said, feeling someone approaching behind him from the shadows. He equipped a Persona to lessen any potential damage, like a snake a pair of arms wrap around him as someone hugged Minato from behind.

"Surprise~" Satou's aunt said seductively, covered head to toe in wrappings with Egyptian clothes "Trick or Treat?"

"Aunty, respect senpai's personal space" Satou herself was right behind her aunt, pulling her back off Minato with her offering playful resistance before letting go. The cold look in her eyes fading slightly but remained as she kept an eye on her overly friendly aunt.

"Evening Satou, Kosho" Minato said as he took off his Nyx mask "How has your night been?"

"Hmm, rather dull" Satou's aunt, Kosho said as she turned to her niece wearing a Ghost Face costume "We went to visit Halloween festival at Satou's school but it was rather drab" Kosho put her arms under her chest to, lifting it up in the process, as she held her elbow of her arm holding her chin "Even your school wasn't much better, while more expensive looking it felt the same as Satou's school. They didn't even have a haunted house"

"Yeah, Minato here is to blame for the lack of haunted house" Aika turned to Minato again with an annoyed look "What exactly did you do anyway, there's whispers but nothing else"

"Severe Health and Safety risk" Minato answered, still shocked OCR even considered using REAL GHOSTS for their haunted house. He quickly got Sona involved to talk sense into Rias before he could turn to helping the ghosts attain peace on their terms "There was a genuine risk someone could get seriously hurt so I brought it to the attention of the Student Council who shut the whole thing down once they found what I discovered"

"Yeah, that's one of the rumours going around" Aika leaned forward "WHAT did you find anyway, there's talk of Rias and her club using real human remains"

Satou and Kosho blinked in surprise as they turned to Minato for answers, Minato was silent as he thought what to say without saying too much.

"Curse Items" Minato answered "From what I overheard they found some cursed or haunted items to help make the whole thing seem more authentic" Minato looked to the side "It worked too well. Keep this to yourselves for now"

Aika stood back straight, shocked at the seriousness in Minatp's voice. Feeling uncomfortable with the current subject she searched for another, she found one when her phone's alarm went off "Hey, when did you say the replacements for our missing two would come?"

"Greetings this All Hallows Eve!" From the doorway charged in a girl with a two toned black and white hair dragging her brother behind her.

"I'm ready to die again" Freed said as he wrestled his hand out of his sister Lint's grip "Okay, we're here now so what do ya need us for?"

Aika looked to the two confused before turning to Minato for answers "We needed two extra members, so I invited some friends from a hobby I'm involved in"

Kosho looked Freed and Lint over before asking nervously "What hobby is it?"

Lint and Freed shared a look before Lint happily said "Extreme Sports!"

"Very, very, extreme sports" Freed looked to Aika as he held back an eye twitch "So, what are we doing?"

Taking the prompt Aika took out a paper doll charm "I came across this thing, called the Sachiko Ever After Ritual"

One Ritual later…

Aika was screaming as she clung to the person nearest her, Lint did her best to comfort the frightened teenager as she looked over to Satou and her aunt who were checking their surroundings and collecting what they could for impromptu weapons.

"So, is this a class B or is it leaning towards an A?" Freed asked as he took out his gun before throwing a Light Sword to his sister before pulling out one for himself.

Minato's eyes glowed "Old and powerful Dark Magic, not Devil but pure negativity, Mid-tier A" he frowned before reaching out his hand as two swords took shape. The Blades floated over to Freed and Lint who took the blades without question, Lint slowly helped Aika to her feet before leading her over to Satou and Kosho.

Ophis lifted her arm as three black serpents grew from it and flew onto the three civilians, they cried out in surprise "These will keep you safe even if we get separated"

A loud groan could be heard echoing throughout the abandoned school they had found themselves in, Minato shared a look with Freed and Lint before a land overcame their bodies as suits of armour manifested around them.

A large bloodied corpse of a man entered the room and looked to the three shining armoured warriors with confusion. Freed walked up to the man who raised a sledgehammer to kill Freed, the hammer shattered on impact before Freed kicked the man back through the door before raising his gun to repeatedly shoot the man.

"Oh come on, surely you have something better than that you coc-" Freed looked to the side and saw the ghost of a child missing an eye and their tongue "kamamie jerk"

Lint popped her head out of the room to look at the child, she suspected there was one as her brother had made progress on lessening his swearing when children were around.

Minato got Aika, Kosho and Satou up to speed on what was happening, them being in another dimension ruled over by an evil spirit, that he and the Sellen have experience in what was going on. Minato bent down to let Ophis jump onto his back as the group moved to journey to the core of this new hellish dimension and to regain their freedom.

One _subverted?_ Horror Game later…

"So, this was the cause of it all" Minato looked down to the Book of Shadows, he was shocked at how powerful the thing was and even with all the seals and wards placed on it he could still sense it's power leaking out.

"Yes" Minato raised his head to see the female spirit sitting across from him, the spirits of her daughter Sachiko and unborn daughter Sachi sleeping on her lap as she stroked their hair. Yoshie Shinozaki sighed "I can't even remember why I did it. I wanted to get something back, but in the end I created a nightmare that dragged my children into it"

Minato turned back to the book, he purified the spirit of Queen and set the trapped spirits free but the Book of Shadows still held an immense amount of power within it "You and your daughters can think over my offer of returning to life or passing on, help yourselves to the snacks. I need to make a phone call" Minato got up with the Book of Shadows, feeling the thing shaking in his hand. Minato smacked it to make it behave itself.

Yoshie looked down at the plate of snacks, she furrowed her brows as she gingerly picked up a biscuit and ate it. Swallowing it she looked at the dish with confusion and shock "How am I able to eat this?"

===}Spooky Cute Ghost Girls Eating snacks{===

Hearing his phone ringing Azazel fished it out of his pocket as the Halloween celebrations went on in the background, seeing the caller ID Azazel raised an eyebrow and moved to a more secluded area before answering "Lord Messiah, please tell me you didn't do it again"

"Pordon?" Minato asked over the phone.

"That last time you called me it was after you somehow seduced an AI, causing it to become self aware and in love with you, before it found a way to cross over into our reality with the powers of a god" Azazel still couldn't figure out how that was even possible, he was about ready to throw his hands up in defeat and labeling the cause being 'Eldritch Human' "The fact it has happened TWICE already doesn't help comfort me, so be honest have you somehow seduced another Artificial Intelligence into a goddesshood"

"...I'm not sure, I think the game I'm playing just has a lot of fourth wall breaking moments," Minato answered embarrassed.

"Oh Father give me strength" Azazel prayed to God for strength, he had a packed schedule already and having his supercomputer AI becoming self-aware didn't help things in the slightest.

"But I'm not calling about that, long story short a friend of mine had a bunch of us do a ritual with a charm and when it was all over I came across this thing called the Book of Shadows" Azazel's blood froze in his veins as he heard those words.

"Where are you?"

"My house-"

"Stay there, I'll be over quickly" Azazel ended the call and ran back into the room he just left "Code Shadow, I repeat Code Shadow!" Azazel shouted out, most of those in attendance gave him confused looks while those in the know stiffened "Follow me we're running low on time!"

===}One explanation of the Book of Shadows and the Martuba's Tomb Cult{===

Freed casually walks in at the meeting between Minato, Azazel, Michael and Yasaka was coming to an end "So, what are we doing then?"

"Evil Cult Hunting" Minato said, he turned to Freed with a noticeable frown "By all means, run wild"

Freed gave a toothy smile, his gun cocked and blade out "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this"

Lint turned to Michael with concern, The Archangel and Leader of Heave showed her a file containing what they knew about the Tomb Cult and it wasn't long before the sister joined the brother.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Here's a quick Halloween Chapter since we're a little over a week from the night in question, this here is pretty much MXD crossed with Corpse Party. NON-CANON to MessiahXDragon for those wondering.**

**For those unfamiliar with Corpse Party and it's spell book known as the Book of Shadows, think of it as a relic that approaches the level of Longinus Sacred Gears. At least for this snippets.**

**Now, since my lore knowledge on Corpse party is lacking I'll give a general idea of what happens. Minato goes to war with the Martuba's Tomb Cult, partly out of stopping them from committing more Evil and partly because a Cult was literally the cause of everything in Persona 3 including the death of Minato's parents so it would be something to help him work out some shit.**

**The three ghost girls Shinozaki would help out in any way they could, proving to be vital in taking down a dangerous member of the Cult Magari Mizuki.**

**Other than Minato meeting and bonding with Kuon Niwa during the war with the cult, he rescued her and her sister when the cult captured them and used David (the fiend from SMT who raises the dead for one night on Halloween to make them party for the night) with the two keeping in contact afterwards,**

**Minato would uncover connections across the globe to other Cults just as bad as the Tomb and would set out to bring them down, taking his own team with him and recruiting more along the way. Kuon would come along and act as a pragmatist who uses her company's vast wealth [PL(Perfect Life) Promotions Co.,Inc.] to grease wheels and help narrow Minato's search for evil cultists, Kuon and her family have practically been involved in a Shadow War with the Tomb Cult.**

**By using the Santa Claus Method, ie moving across the Earth fast enough to stay on the night side of the planet, Minato gets it all done in one night**

**Right then, for costumes.**

**Minato: Nyx Avatar**

**Ophis: Cute Dragon Witch**

**Aika: Sexy Devil**

**Satou's aunt: Seductive Mummy**

**Satou: Ghost Face**

**Happy Halloween! Have a safe and _Spooky_ Nice~! Especially with the full moon this year**


	12. MessiahXDragon: The World moves forward

**Author's note: Bit more of a cool down chapter after the last one**

**The World moves forward**

Minato took a moment to collect himself after his little adventure in the Underworld.

When the Devil who introduced himself as Diodora Astaroth came to him at the party he didn't give the Devil much thought, though that changed when he tried to cast mind altering magic on him. Minato was more than well enough aware of such magic due to Shadows using it several times on SEES, eventually he grew resistant to it with his Personas providing greater protection and stumping out the insidious magic before it could take root. Still, he played along pretending to be under Diodora's control to see what he was after.

Bring Asia to him at a certain address, the devil noble gave Minato a split of paper before walking away. He didn't say anything to either Rias, Sona or their peerages instead subtly checking to make sure they weren't being spied on, luckily it seemed Diodora was very confident in his abilities as they weren't followed, returning back to Kuoh Town they went their separate ways. He needed to know what Diodora wanted with Asia before he did anything else so he planned on creating an Avatar to look like Asia to go with him, that plan didn't last too long before Ophis offered to help by transforming into Asia.

He knew Ophis could shapeshift but actually seeing her use it was another matter as she was nearly identical to Asia, nearly being the keyword as she had trouble with the eyes, ears and couldn't do Asia's voice. Still; it was more than enough, after patching together some spare fabrics left in the house to create a copy of Asia's old nun outfit and hooded cloaks for them to wear they set off to the address given with Ophis handling the teleportation.

Once he entered that place Minato knew without a doubt that Diodora was planning something horrible with Asia and it only took one look at Diodora's 'peerage' to figure it out. He still wasn't sure what happened after his eyes landed on them, he could hear weak cries for help as brief flashes of scenes came to his mind. All of the former nuns and Diodora, detailing their fall and Diodora's cruelty. Angel's seethed in rage at those who were supposed to be under their protection meeting grim fates, heroes were sickened with many prepared to unsheath their weapons and even Demons looked on disappointed at yet more improper methods used to make humans fall from God's grace.

Minato was barely aware of the power he leaked out only really noticing it after many present were forced to their knees, what he was about to do would have consequences greater than what he could imagine at the moment and yet he accepted them as he unholstered his Evoker.

He made a deal to take responsibility for his actions, he would not break that, and he could never forgive himself for not acting and letting this to go any further.

Many stood ready to answer the call, and yet it was the one with the most personal weight on the matter. Astaroth manifested into reality and took care of the one who bore his name as Minato attended to Diodora's Peerage, the looks of fear and submissive acceptance made his stomach turn. Reaching out his hand Minato tried and succeeded in replicating the miracle that reverted Kenzou back to his original body, unlike him the girls fell unconscious as they reverted back to being humans. He examined them and healed what he could before Ophis came over offering to take them away, Minato thanked her as Ophis left with the former nuns.

After dealing with Diodora, damning him to a personal hell before he truly died, Astaroth used his Demon authority over the Devils to force them to a vow of secrecy. Many took to the vow with fear and desperation, while a few took it wholeheartedly with fervor.

And now here he was, in his new house with fifteen former Devils reverted back to humans he couldn't tell anyone for the time being. Kiyome was an option but he certainly couldn't tell either Rias or Sona, while they wouldn't accept what Diodora had done it didn't mean they wouldn't do something that could put the rescued girls in danger. Even something simple as them telling their families could lead to trouble, and none of that factoring in Devils learning he could reverse Devil conversion.

He needs to focus on what he can do now, speaking of which.

Minato turned to Ophis, the nun outfit made to look like Asia's had changed with her to fit her even in her smaller form "Thanks again for the help, things could have gotten a lot more complicated if you weren't around" Minato wasn't sure if he could have created an Avatar to match Asia perfectly and there was no telling if Diodora had means to detect illusions so having Ophis disguise herself as Asia helped.

The Dragon Nun nodded before turning her attention to the newly restored humans "What are you doing to do with them?"

"Take responsibility" Minato raised his Evoker. He didn't know who exactly these girls were, but knew enough that they had suffered under Diodora and lived in a world very different from the one they knew before, as he pulled the trigger his course of action was clear.

Help them stand on their own two feet and helped them a new place for themselves in this world.

With a sound of shattering glass energy whirled around Minato, Ophis looked on as five figures began to form as Bridget jumped back.

Five figures stood before Minato, three women and two men. No words were needed as all those summoned knew their purpose and what they needed to do, however they told Minato through thought of the face Ophis was making and Bridget's guarded stance. Sure enough Bridget regarded the summoned Personas warily, meanwhile Ophis furrowed her brow as she stared intently at them.

"I do not know them, and yet" she pointed she pointed to the man who stood in the middle of the group "With him as an exception, they feel strong"

Understandable, among the Personas summoned he was an ordinary man all things considered.

He chuckled at Ophis's comment, scratching his beard as he did so "That I am, in most stories told I've been relegated to a supporting role. Still, I wanted to help in any way I could even if it's as simple as being an extra set of hands"

The woman beside him gave the man a thankful smile "You'd likely never gave me much thought, as this power you sense only truly came after my mortal life" she regarded the other couple to the left and the other woman far on her other side "They, on the other hand, likely left center stage before you arrived into this world"

The other couple stepped forward and knelt down to be at more eye level with Ophis "It's nice to speak with you in person Ophis, I'm Eve and this is my life partner Adam"

Adam gave Ophis a small smile "We're known as the Father and Mother of Humanity, you're already familiar with Maria and Joseph" Maria and Joseph smiled as they took a step back for the fifth member to be in sight "She's-"

"Lilith, mother of Demons and Devils" Lilith groaned before pointing to Adam "And since it's going to come up eventually, may as well rip it off now, I'm Adam's ex-life partner who got NTR'd by Lucifer" she pointed to the unconscious group "I'm here to make sure no Devil energy is left over along with helping to take care of them"

Ophis turned to Minato slowly "You summoned the mother of demons, the father and mother of humanity, to take care of these former devils"

Minato nodded "Yeah, speaking of which we'll need to get some things ready for them" Minato turned to leave the room with Joseph following behind as Adam, Eve, Lilith and Maria stayed behind to keep an eye on the girls.

Looking between the Personas before her gears began turning within Ophis's mind.

Up till now she only truly considered the strength and power she could gain if she secured Minato's loyalty to her, but now she knew of a different avenue. Lilith was often spoken of with reverence among those from the True Satan Faction and having a Persona of her would ensure their obedience, her Persona counterpart was able to fool herself so unless the original Lilith appeared no one would know the truth. She wasn't entirely sure if the Hero Faction would regard Adam and Eve with such reverence but it was worth an attempt, at the very least having the Father and Mother of Humanity on her side would be a boon in one way or another.

Ophis smiled, Minato was truly a gift that kept on giving. She remained in the room to watch over the newly restored humans to see what the results of Minato's actions, after all it will have an effect on how she'd go about rending in the True Satan Faction after that Devil's death.

She stood and watched as the remaining Personas watched over and tended to their charges, retrieving her MP3 in case she needed it, until they all began to slowly wake up. They all began waking up one after another until they were all lucid enough to understand what had happened, some looking around with worry while most just stared ahead with acceptance.

Their attention seemed to drift to and linger on Ophis more than once, after the second look she figured it was due to the nun outfit she was wearing

After everything was explained, they were human once more and Diodora would never touch them again, it took one of them praying to believe what they were being told.

The newest member of Diodora's former peerage shakily brought her hands together in prayer, Ophis didn't pay much attention to the words spoken as the reaction they caused. While the one leading the prayer's words were slow they gained pace, her words growing faster if not more shaky as tears began to gather at the edge of her eyes, the others joined in on the prayer after a few words with confusion and disbelief being the majority reaction.

"H-How?" The one who led the prayer asked, her voice thick with emotion as she looked to the Personas and Ophis "How can we pray to God, we're Devils"

"No, not anymore" Maria knelt down and hugged the girl "You and the others are human once more"

Ophis put her earphones in and left the room when they started crying, she seen enough.

* * *

"You want to do the Tamer Exam already?" Kiyome gave Minato a curious look before giving him a stern look "You've barely done any real missions, and one had to be forgotten" Kiyome whispered the last part before continuing "Go on a few more missions and you could take the exam in under a week"

The two of them were sitting together under one of the trees on Kuoh Academy's ground, not many visited it during lunch due to the distance from the building and the chance of being scolded for having dirty uniforms by the student council and teachers.

Minato nodded "Thanks, especially since this is out of the blue"

"Any reason for the sudden desire to be a full fledge Tamer so soon?" Kiyome gave Minato a thoughtful look."You know being a fully licensed Tamer comes with a lot more responsibilities than one in training?"

_'Because I suddenly have fifteen extra mouths to feed with an extra five that need to pretend to eat on top of myself, Ophis and a chimera hellhound_' Minato thought to himself "I'm just excited to advance further, that and a little extra money couldn't hurt"

Kiyome nodded "Fair enough, just be sure to balance work, school and any personal time you have wisely. I have a couple tricks myself I picked up over the years"

"I have some myself" Minato added, his thoughts drifting back to the times he was scheduling things with SEES on when was the best nights to enter Tartarus and spending times with his friends "It's not much, just some things I developed in the last school"

Kiyome paused as she realized something "You never talk about your previous, I don't want to pry but is there a reason for that"

He grew silent at Kiyome's question, closing his eyes as he thought about Iwatodai City, Tatsumi Port Island, Gekkoukan High School and everyone he had met there. "It was, life changing in a good way" Minato smiled as he looked up at the sky "I can honestly say I've improved a lot going there, but things happened and I had to transfer"

Kiyome looked at Minato curious, "Come on, tell me a little more. Were you in any clubs?"

"I was in the Kendo, Music and an after school club that did community service" Minato answered, feeling he hadn't been deceitful calling SEES and after school club that did community service. "I was also considered an honorary member of the student council, home economics, art and photograph clubs due to several friends of mind"

Kiyome gave Minato a suspicious look "So, you were in seven clubs in your old school?"

Minato shook his head "I was in three, I just dabbled in the others out of either interest or helping a friend with something"

"Hmm. Prove it" Kiyome said with a smirk "I happen to know the art room is always open to people wishing to try many art forms, we go there and you draw me like one of your french girls"

"I only know a Frenchmen," Minato answered.

"No, it was a reference to- You know what nevermind," Kiyome said.

[Several Minutes later]

Kiyome looked at the drawing mouth agape, Minato looked between Kiyome and the drawing before his gaze settled on the drawing as he stared at it intently.

"Sempais? Is something the-" one of the first years in the art room went over to Minato and Kiyome to see what was wrong, as they did their mouth dropped as their eyes landed on the picture. On the canvas was a beautifully drawn sketch of Kiyome sitting on a stool, a confident smile on her lips with eyes that seem to twinkle with excitement and curiosity.

"Not too happy with the hair, doesn't quite have the right volume as yours" Minato said, scrutinizing the aspects of the sketch he wasn't happy with. It had been a while since he last sketched a portrait of someone and looking at the one he drew for Kiyome made it clear he was out of practice. The hair being the most notable shortcoming with the neck being a millimeter too big, he was proud of the eyes and happy he could still do them well even with the shortcomings of the sketch.

It was honestly very relaxing drawing Kiyome in the art room, while they were the music club he and Keisuke did frequent the photograph and art clubs. While music was something he had loved all his life drawing the portrait of Kiyome reminded Minato spending time with the one friend who inspired him to aim to be a doctor like he was, even when Keisuke's dad kept pressuring his son and trying to control his life.

His words broke Kiyome and their underclassmen out of their stupor, Kiyome turned to Minato with a surprised look "You weren't kidding about the art club after all" she turned back to the sketch of herself with her gaze being drawn to the eyes "Did you put the most detail into my eyes?"

"The eyes have been called windows into the soul, didn't feel right doing such a thing half heartedly" Minato turned to look directly into Kiyome's eyes "Still, doesn't compare to the real thing"

Kiyome turned to Minato with her cheeks reddening "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were flirting with me"

"Um, what are you going to do with the sketch?" the underclassmen asked drawing attention to themselves "Because, you need to fill out a form and submit it to the student council if you want to take it home"

"You can take it if you want" Minato said to Kiyome, a small smile forming "Consider it a gift, after everything you've done to help me"

Kiyome looked conflicted "Well, it's too nice to have it scrapped. And I'm not too sure about how I feel about it hanging around school for everyone to see" she nodded her head "At the risk of seeming egotistical, I'll take it home with me"

After being told what they needed to do Kiyome went to collect and fill out the forms they needed to sign as Minato and the underclassman wrapped up the sketch for transport, as they did the underclassmen looked around anxiously before whispering to Minato "Senpai, any chance you're interested in an art career?"

Minato raised an eyebrow at the question "Depends what it is?"

"People are always looking for artists for Manga, considering how fast you made that detailed sketch I think you could do well" they pulled a business card out which Minato took "Just, give it some thought. Plenty of money to be made"

Minato pocketed the business card with a nod, the underclassmen looked around and left soon after the sketch was wrapped up.

* * *

"How about you take the next day off so you can go out and enjoy yourself" Maria said with a smile, Minato turned away from the manga pages he drew up to fully face his Persona.

Minato shook his head "Can't, I have work to do" he was about to turn back to the several manga pages he drew when he saw Maria's frown, they could speak with thought so whatever she wished to tell him was something he needed to physically hear.

"Your going to be busy for some time, this is going to be your last chance to have a day to yourself for a while" Maria knelt beside Minato to give him a motherly smile "If you haven't been working you were worrying about something, whether it be Rias and her Peerage's match or on the well being of the girls. Give yourself a day, okay"

Minato sighed. "Okay, mu-Maria" he said, barely stopping himself from calling Maria mum, something that had happened before and preferred not to happen again in front of others.

Maria gave Minato a hug before returning to the living room where she, Eve and Lilith were helping the former members of Diodora's peerage learn about the modern world and teaching them needed skills.

Their recovery was going as well as expected, the former Queen Katina was helping the others settle into the new situation they found themselves in. He hadn't interacted with them personally, at least not through Personas, as they still remembered the power he unleashed and seemed vaguely aware of Astrathot's summoning. After they learn about the current human world then they can work on their mild agoraphobia.

Minato sighed to himself as he considered what he should do tomorrow, as he did Bridget came over to him. Rubbing her head Minato got an idea of what to do.

Walking through Kuoh Town Minato took in the sights as he walked Bridget with Ophis holding the leash, they didn't have plans on what to do exactly and were walking around to see what caught their eye. Ophis comes to a complete stop in front of a display of televisions, stopping Bridget in her tracks with the suddenness of it, Minato turned to the televisions to see what had caught Ophis's attention.

A cast of characters in colourful costumes posing dramatically as music played in the background, Minato quickly recognized that it was this world's version of Featherman latest promo for the new season. It was actually something of a comfort for him, regardless of the world tokusatsu Heroes were there, though there were certain elements of this world's version that put him off. Still, good music.

"What's that song called?" Ophis asked, Minato shrugged his shoulders as he didn't know himself.

He was able to catch the end of the promo with the airing date presented "Chances are they'll credit whoever made it in the first show, you could watch it to find out what it was. Who knows, you might find other sounds you like in the show"

Ophis didn't say anything in response instead choosing to continue walking down the street with Bridget excitedly following along, Minato spared one last glance to the verging on ecchi series Featherman knock-off before following Ophis making a note to watch the series with her himself or having a Persona do it in his stead.

Arriving in the park Bridget was let off her leash to run around more freely, she had free reign over the area around the house but this was her first time visiting a park, she jumped around excitedly before staring intently at a small fox in the bushes.

The fox looked startled and ran away, Bridget looked pleased before running back over to Minato and Ophis. Ophis held a small ball in her hand before throwing it up, Bridget leapt into the air to catch it with her mouth before chewing on the ball.

"That's not a chew toy, come here," Minato said as he knelt down to take back the ball, Bridget growled but let the ball go. Minato petted Bridget's before holding up the ball, the chimera hellhound's eyes were focused on the ball even after it was thrown.

They spent a good deal of time at the park with Minato showing Ophis the various things dog owners do to play with their pets, making Bridget very happy causing her to jump up on Minato and Ophis more than once for licks. Beyond a mildly awkward moment where Minato had to explain why Bridget would like headpats and ear scratched, giving Ophis headpats when asked, it was a pleasant time spent together with all three getting ice cream at the end.

Leaving the park they continued walking around Kuoh, Minato thought about visiting an arcade or a karaoke place but reconsidered the idea due to Ophis not liking loud noises. It was as he was considering what else they could do when they came across something interesting.

"We have two spots remaining, who here is brave enough to take on the Iron Shogun challenge!" An energetic voice could be heard as a sizable crowd began to gather in front of a stage with several men and women seated at a long table.

Minato felt Ophis staring at him, he looked around for context clues as to what the Iron Shogun challenge was and found a large banner above them "It's an eating contest, basically people sign up to see who can eat the most food"

Ophis tilted her head (?) "Why would they compete in such a thing?"

"Prizes, reputation, free food. It depends on the person who enters it" Minato looked to the speaker again to see them searching the crowd for something, Minato was ready to leave due to not having any interest in seeing the competition.

"Two spots left, first prize is one million four hundred thousand yen in cash!"

Ophis saw Minato's hand shoot up to volunteer for the feasting competition, on a whim she climbed up his back to raise her hand as well.

She never tried gorging herself on food before but as she seemed to be experiencing many new things with Minato she may as well try.

* * *

She will never eat anything again, with the exception of sweets.

Ophis laid on Bridget's back as the large dog carried her, she spared a glance to Minato to see him doing barely better than her. They had won first and second place but she doubted this discomfort was worth it, the second she gained the chance she was transforming into a large body to ease the discomfort.

They shared a look with one another and decided to call it a day, as they neared the house Minato lifted Ophis from Bridget's back to carry her inside. As he carried her Ophis felt the discomfort ease, she suspected he was using some form of healing that affected indigestion but that wasn't it. Whatever it was it felt nice, Ophis was a bit disappointed it ended when he put her down on a coach in the living room before going over to lay down on the second one next to it.

Ophis laid there to recover, only getting up later that night when she saw someone standing over Minato.

Katina held a blade of demonic flame over Minato's head, reading to behead him.

"What are you doing?"

Katina spun to face Ophis, her flame weapon now pointed at the bemused Dragon God.

* * *

Satou Side Story: The past returns

Walking up to the school gate Minato could see some of the leaving students whispering about something, slowing down and listening in to the whispers.

"Who is that guy? He's been standing by the front gate staring intently in"

"No clue, he's wearing a South Kuoh uniform so maybe he's waiting on a friend?"

Minato raised an eyebrow at the mention of Satou's school before continuing on to get a look for himself, as he did he overheard more conversations.

"That dude is seriously giving me the creeps, do you think he's dangerous? Huh, are you recording him?" "He's moving!"

"Minato Arisato, right?"

Minato came to a stop when his name was called out, looking ahead he saw it was the South Kuoh student everyone seemed to be whispering about. Looking him over Minato could tell he hadn't slept well due to the black marks under his eyes, eyes that bore into him with a glare for some unknown reason, at this point Minato was keenly aware of everyone turning their gaze on him "Yes, can I help you?"

The unknown student seemed to s*teel himself before stomping up to Minato, he lower his voice to a whisper as he looked up to the taller Minato "Stay away from my girlfriend"

"Who?" Minato asked, having no idea who the younger student's girlfriend was.

"Satou, stay away from my Satou" his whispering grew louder and harsher, not quite yelling but enough that someone might be able to listen in. The South Kuoh student seemed to notice something before spinning on his heel to run away, Minato kept an eye on the fleeing student even as Kuoh Academy security approached him.

Even as he agreed to tell them what just happened he had his phone out to call the Nakajimas and Satou herself, there was something off about the South Kuoh student. It wasn't anything paranormal, rather it seemed like there was something off about him in a very mundane way. Something that could be dangerous.

Later...

Arriving at the café he met up with Satou to tell her what happened, the look of surprise and alarm in her eyes told him something was off.

"We weren't dating, not really" Satou lowered her head and looked away "We just hung out together with my friend and her's" she pulled out her phone and hesitated "Right, we never exchanged numbers. I'll have to ask Shouko"

"Are you sure it's safe to meet with him?" Minato asked.

Satou shook her head, a smile returning to her face "Yeah, I can handle it myself. He's weird but harmless"

Minato frowned "Still, do you want me to be somewhere close by when you go an meet him? Backup in a worse case scenario"

She seemed ready to say no but stopped herself before nodding "Thank you, though you may want to wear something inconspicuous for yourself to make sure he doesn't recognize you"

={At the Park at night}=

"Satou. I got your message from-" the South Kuoh student said as they saw Satou approaching.

Satou raised her hand to stop him "I want you to stay away from me and senpai"

The South Kuoh (SK) student was caught flat footed "Uh, Satou? Look, I'll admit I jumped the gun a little but we don't anymore and you seem fixated on that Arisato person so I was worried-"

"Where did you learn about him?" Satou asked as she walked closer to the SK Student.

They took a step back "Satou, I'm not feeling very comfortable right now"

"Did you think about that when you waited outside his school to ambush him?" Satou asked, not waiting for an answer she stood in front of the SK Student and stared him down "Now, who told you about Minato Arisato"

The SK Student fell backwards "I-I wanted to see if you were alright, we didn't exchange numbers so I asked Shouko before checking out your home and work. I learnt who he was after asking around and, finding out you spent the night at his place"

Satou glared down at the SK student "It was a group sleepover with friends, or did you not investigate that far"

"S-So you and he aren't-"

"No" Satou answered.

SK Student let out a sigh of relief before jumping backwards as he saw a taser in front of him, Satou held the taser so that it was leveled with his eyes "I will say this only one more time, stay away from me and senpai. I don't want to see you ever again outside of school"

"Satou-chan, why? We're in a relationship, the festival and on the roof we-"

"It meant nothing. Let it go and move on with your life, consider that advice for old times, goodbye" Satou stared down at her one time lover before walking away.

Meanwhile, Minato waited behind a lamppost as he looked at his phone. He wore a raincoat with the hood up, feeling someone staring at him, Minato looked down the street to see a woman staring into the park. Hearing footsteps from the park Minato saw the woman was staring at Satou with a smile before turning around to walk away.

"Well, that was rough," Satou said "Though I feel he understands the situation now, let me know if he gives you trouble and I'll talk to him again"

"If anything comes up don't hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything" Minato replied.

Satou paused "Actually, could you walk me back?" with a nod Minato and Satou began walking down the street together, as they walked the rain began to fall forcing the two to share Minato's raincoat held above their heads. After making sure Satou got back safe Minato headed back home, walking around in circles more then once and teleporting once to make sure he wasn't being followed.

* * *

Omakes

**Dragons, Eggs, on my!**

Urgent Missions. A type of mission Tamers take on that, as the name says, requires urgent attention from all available Tamers able to handle the matter and Minato was informed of the latest one.

A Rogue Dragon was flying around the human without bothering to hide itself, dozens of reports of it had already been made and if it wasn't stopped soon the masquerade of the world would fall apart, not to mention he was calling down lightning bolts at things around it. Several attempts had already been made to stop the dragon with nothing working, an attempt to stop it by force did little more than knock off some of it's scales before those involved had to withdraw due to losing strength at an alarming rate.

Scales Minato looked over, letting his chimera hellhound sniff the scent of the dragon in question, as he took part in a meeting with other Tamers in his region. Due to the serious nature of the situation the plan was to capture the dragon before it entered a densely populated area or kill it if need be, several Factions had sent agents to help in the capture or termination of the dragon with those agents following Tamer lead.

The plan to stop the dragon involved breaking up into teams with Minato, still being a fresh face Tamer, being placed into recon to scout out the dragon's movements and predict where it was headed. However, during the mission things changed.

"Alexa, did you pick up something?" Minato asked as the Church Grim head of Bridget was sniffing the air around them, picking up a scent Elda and Dealla quickly found as well.

'Barkbark' Dragon's scent coming from over there, three souls are in that direction.

Minato had Alexa led him to the scent, using Sukukaja to enhance the hellhound's speed to lower the chance of their targets moving. Coming to a clearing with a barrier erected to hide from everything outside it, before realizing it they had entered the barrier where a woman in ninja gear was smoking with two large eggs off to the side.

As soon as Minato saw the eggs the pieces fell into place as to what happened, he glared at the egg thief as an Evil smile tugged at his lips. With the desired effect of making the egg thief fearful it was a simple matter of knocking them out, with a stream of three different types of fire skywards the barrier crumbled as the pillar of flames drew the attention of those within sight. Especially the attention of a dragon that rose into the air to get a quick look at the source of the flames only to see Minato holding the eggs in his hands.

Holding the eggs in his hands Minato could feel the life within them fading little by little, various Personas telling him the unborn dragons had minutes left Minato let out a deep breath, using senjutsu Minato channeled life energy into the eggs and felt life return to the eggs in abundance returning the eggs from death's door.

The dragon dived towards where Minato was, Bridget moving to guard him from the force of the dragon's coming impact or any attack the dragon would make, as it drew near the dragon's body became covered in light. As it made contact with the ground the dragon had shrunk down into a far more human appearance, albeit with horns, wings and a tail.

"My babies!"

The now human dragon rushed over to Minato, who give Bridget a look to step back as the mother dragon drew near, with tears in her eyes the mother dragon put her hands over the eggs "Mummy is so sorry, if I was only more careful, I-I-" the dragon girl wiped away her tears before looking to Minato.

Before a word could be uttered a song began playing, looking down to his phone in his pocket Minato handed the eggs over to their mother before answering his phone "Hello"

"Where are you? There was a pillar of fire that drew away the dragon, was that Bridget or are we dealing with something else?" Kiyome's voice came through the speaker with a professional tone edged with worry, in the background other conversations leaked through with lots of movement.

Minato looked to the crying mother holding her eggs before turning around to see the ninja was where he left them, he began explaining what had happened as he directed Bridget to keep two heads ready to attack if need be.

"Eggnapping, of course that had to be it" Kiyome said in a tired tone "We're sending people over now to help the mother and arrest the eggnapper so just-"

A surprised shout drew his attention, whirling around Minato saw the eggs were shaking with the mother dragon struggling to keep the eggs in her arms, with a quick "Their hatching" Minato rushed over to help the dragon mother hold her hatching eggs as Kiyome's voice came through the phone on the ground.

As the eggs continued to shake, pulsating as more and more cracks began to form on the shells, the mother of the eggs encouraged her children as she cheered them until finally...

"My, my babies. So cute~"

With tears in her eyes the mother dragon held two babies that would have been indistinguishable from human if it weren't for their little horns, wings and tail as their mother, Minato sighed as the worse seemed to be over with the dragon mother being able to hold her children much easier with the egg shells, feeling a slight breeze Minato took off his jacket to wrap the newly hatched children to shell them from the cold.

"When I came back to find them gone from the nest I was so scared, even when I found the person who took you I nearly lost hope" the babies reached out to their mother as she closed her tearful eyes as she embraced her children "Mummy did wrong, I'm sorry"

Letting out a sigh of relief Minato left the little family to collect his phone, seeing it was still connected he picked back up with Kiyome about what happened. As the others drew closer Minato kept a sharp eye on the ninja to make sure they didn't try anything underhanded to escape, though he almost missed it when the mother dragon came over to him.

"Sorry, it's just" Minato turned around to see the mother and children looking at him, with the children reaching out to Minato "They want you to hold them"

Minato tilted his head confused but complied, gingerly he took the dragon babies into his arms as he drew in what knowledge and wisdom of child care and rearing his Personas could provide. It was admittedly few and far between but he was able to find what he needed, looking down he saw the twins leading against him as he held.

Seeing their happy expression brought a smile to his lips "Happy Birthday, welcome to the world"

The dragon mother cooed as she watched her children "Ah, their both so happy being held by their papa"

"Say what now!?"

Just at that moment, the team gathered to handle the rogue dragon situation arrived.

* * *

Turns out the dragon mother, Aoi, was joking about the papa comment. Feeling both relieved and disappointed they returned to a Tamer base to wrap up the Urgent Mission, Minato and Satou went to get lunch before making their reports.

"Eggnapping. Of course that was the cause of all this" Kiyome said with a bite in tone, she took a bite out of a sandwich and chewed with a displeased look.

Kidnapping of children, even infants, was something Minato had only really been aware of through news or word of mouth but knew nothing of it personally. It wasn't a leap in logic that such things happen with cryptids, though there was something he needed to ask.

Minato's grip tightened on his can of coffee "How often does something like this happen?"

"Rare, though that's only counting the things reported or discovered" Kiyome took a deep breath before turning to Minato with a reassuring look "If it makes you feel any better, Aoi and the twins will be fine. Can hardly blame a mother desperately trying to save her children from potentially unveiling everything to the rest of the world, the ninja and those she works for are another matter, and they'll be given the best care possible" Kiyome leaned back into her chair "Over all, this mission has a happy ending"

Suddenly a member of the Tamers in a lab coat rushed into the room and looked around wildly, as soon as they spotted Minato they briskly walked over to him.

Kiyome rubbed the bridge of her nose "Had to jinx it, no way it was this easy with your luck"

"Maybe it's about something else" Minato offered.

"Mr Arisato, I need you to come with me right this moment" The doctor said, gesturing for Minato to follow.

Following the doctor they came to a room where a group of people were looking at a computer screen, what seemed like the head doctor raised her head when the door opened before getting up "I take it your the Tamer who discovered the egg thief and eggs" nodding the doctor gave Minato a hard look "I'll cut to the chase, we fear the kidnappers may have done something to the eggs to bind the unborn children to their will. The process appears to not have progress past the inserting life force into them when they were still in their eggs, but if you can give us any more details of want you saw it would greatly help us proceeding forward"

Minato gave those present a beat for beat about him coming across the criminal and the eggs, apprehending them, drawing Aoi's attention AND explaining the state he found the eggs in and what he had to do to save them.

The second he mentioned himself using senjutsu Kiyome gave him an incredulous look, the head doctor asked for a demonstration and afterwards dragged Minato by the collar out of the room and into another one two doors down.

"Miss Aoi. We true Tamers may have found the source of this situation and the answer" The head doctor said before letting Minato go after dragging him into the room. Minato and Aoi shared a look with one another, Aoi was holding the sleeping babies in arms, giving her a wave Minato sat down on a nearby chair. As the doctor searched for something she repented what Minato had told him, Aoi eyes widened in alarm at the mention of her children dying in their eggs as her hold on them became just that more firm, when she mentioned Minato using senjutsu to save them she shot him a grateful look.

The head doctor took out a large plate with a sphere in the center from a drawer before presenting it to Minato "Tamer Arisato, with senjutsu please place a sample of your life force into this item here" Minato complied, being extremely cautious with the energy he was using in the event the head doctor used it for their own ends.

Turning back to Aoi he recalled the doctor's words "What's the matter, Aoi?"

She fidgeted, her eyes falling down to the sleeping babies in her arms that began waking up "Well, it's not easy to talk about"

From the device the doctor was holding over the twins, as the sphere began to glow the doctor waved it over the twins before smiling broadly as the light intensified "Rejoice Miss Aoi, for the best outcome has been granted to us" the head doctor turned to Minato with a dark smile "Tell me, Tamer Arisato. How familiar are you with breastfeeding among cryptids?"

As it turned out, Minato giving his life force to the twins to save their lives held more consequences then he'd realized at the time, long term they will be better off as his life force was strong enough to give them a notable boost. However, that was long term. Short term it meant Aoi couldn't feed them properly, leaving her with nothing to feed her newborns with, without Minato assisting.

In the doctor's office Minato sat back to back with Aoi naked above their waist, being prompted by the doctor Aoi attempted to feed her children again. With bated breath the twins stirred before feeding, Aoi looked on in relief as Minato released a breath he was holding as he felt life energy trickle from him into Aoi.

As this was going on the doctor looked over the device she was using with a confused frown "Odd, I can't seem to get an affinity reading on you" getting up the doctor moved to leave "I'll be back in a minute, try not to kill each or make more life while I'm gone"

Aoi and Minato sat where they were as the sound of the babies feeding was the only sound in the room.

"Umm"/"Hey" both Aoi and Minato began to speak, the two of them talking over each other for a moment. They fell silent again for a moment before Aoi spoke again "Thank you for saving my children, not once but twice already" she turned her head slightly towards Minato "Were they really about to" the words became caught in her throat, unable to finish.

"Yeah" Minato answered honestly, even if it was hard to hear Aoi needed to know the truth with her children "I'm not a master of senjutsu by any means, but even I could tell they didn't have long. In the end I did what I had to do, because no parent should outlive their children"

Aoi lowered her head down to her children as they finished feeding "Thank you" Aoi hugged her children close as they cooed and awe'd "I was scared they'd never hatch, no matter what I did nothing seemed to help them out of their shells"

"Do you not have anyone to turn to?" Minato asked Aoi, wincing at the bluntness of his own question.

Aoi turned around on the chair so that she and Minato were no longer sitting back to back "Not really. I've been living on my own for a little under a year after I left my own nest. Certain dragons remain in the nest for a few hundred years before leaving to make their own, I asked my mother to let me stay an extra decade before leaving the nest and got angry with me postponing it again and again"

"Wait, how old are you?"

"About 250" Aoi answered Minato's question "I mostly kept to myself, though when I saw humans going about their lives when I went out for food I saw happy families and... I wanted one of my own. And with that strong desire Jaajaa and Nana's eggs were laid"

Minato turned to look at the babies, seeing them looking a little uncomfortable "Is that their names?" he gave the babies a little smile "Hi again; Jaajaa, Nana"

The twins looked to Minato and reached out to him, seeing this Aoi smiled "It seems they want you to hold them"

"What on Earth is going on here?"

Kiyome stood in the doorway, busy processing the scene her student has found themselves in, in her arms Kiyome had a large file.

The doctor came to a sudden stop as she ran down the hall to the door "Okay, good news for the babies bad news for Tamer Arisato" The doctor said, catching her breath as she took out several short swords from her pockets "Good news, Tamer Arisato has an affinity for pretty much everything on record so no complications will come from him giving the twins his life force" an explosion could be heard in the distance "Bad news; there's a special type of crazy scientist among our ranks that is going to do unspeakable experiments on you Tamer Arisato after learning about your miraculous life force, nothing too bad but very sueable, so young Tamer Abe will fill you in on what's happening next as you flee with the dragon and her children"

"Get dressed quickly unless you want to get involved in a hentai plot!" Kiyome said as she handed Aoi and Minato's clothes to them, the head doctor uttered a prayer before charging into a battle Minato knew he had to flee from.

"OUT OF MY WAY YOU CROSSDRESSING EXORCIST!"

"COME, NUTTY PROFESSOR, AND FACE JUSTICE!"

Thus began Aoi, Jaajaa and Nana as charges under Minato's care.

* * *

Aoi was pleasantly surprised to see the size of the house Minato lived in, she was worried that he might have room for her and the twins but it seemed that worry was unfounded.

She expected a lot of things in the house, what she wasn't expecting was for a humanoid dragon waiting for them as they entered the front door or the twenty other people.

Aoi looked around at the assembled group. Adam, Eve, Joseph and Maria smiled brightly at her while the two couple's adopted children had far more varied reactions, though Aoi felt a little uncomfortable under Lili's scrutinizing gaze. Though it was a little rocky in the beginning Aoi was glad she was accepted with open arms, the house was spacious with a room for her Jaajaa and Nana.

It was an odd set up, to be sure, but a welcoming one.

Everything was going well, until Jaajaa and Nana began crying in the middle of the night. Aoi tried to get the twins to fall back asleep but found herself unable to stop them from crying. As she was about to get up to get help Minato walked into the room half asleep with Phis trailing behind him with an annoyed look, stiffing a yawn Minato turned his attention to Jaajaa and Nana to see what the problem was.

"Night time crying" Lili stood at the doorway to her room, a small smile tugging at her lips "That's rough, though your little ones are a lot less worse then my own hellspawn"

Aoi winced at what Lili called her own children, instead of focusing on that she turned to her for aid "What do I do, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong?"

Lili shrugged "At their age all babies can do is sleep and cry, just calm them down and they'll get back to sleep" Lili patted Aoi on her head "Keep in mind, they'll be crying nearly all the time. So good luck~!"

She left with those words, Aoi worked with Minato to get Jaajaa and Nana to calm down. As they got back to sleep Minato gained a thoughtful look "Aoi, is it alright if I sleep here for now? In case the twins start crying again"

Aoi agreed to the idea instantly, having someone close by to help her with the twins was a welcomed help and that being Minato was something she was happy about. Jaajaa and Nana loved having him around, she still wasn't sure if it was due to them imprinting on him when they hatched or if his life force played the part, she herself felt safe around him.

Still...

"Phis, what are you doing?" Aoi asked as she saw the dragon girl in question looking over them.

"She watches me sleep at night" Minato answered as he laid with his eyes closed "Actually, Phis could you wake me up if Jaajaa and Nana look like their about to wake up"

Phis nodded as the three headed dog walked into the room and laid down at the foot of the bed.

...A part of her wished things were a bit more mundane.

She drifted back to sleep for a while before being woken up again, bleary eyed. She got up and saw Minato cradling Jaajaa and Nana in his arms as they cried. It didn't take much to figure out they were hungry so she and Minato sat back to back as she fed them, she could tell it was beginning to become a routine due to how much easier she found doing it when compared several hours ago.

Though she wasn't sure how to feel about Phis watching as she fed Jaajaa and Nana.

* * *

"So, how was the first night with newly hatched baby dragons?" Maria asked, knowing full well how it was due to the connection of Personas but wanted to know what Aoi was feeling.

"Tiring" Aoi said as she rubbed her eyes "Sorry about the noise"

"Can't be helped, it's part of the package with newborns" Joseph said as he put down the newspaper before turning his attention to the gathered 'adopted' children "If any of you want, you could move to one of the other rooms further away from-"

"It's fine, really" Gabriel said in a low voice, he winced as he went back to his cereal "We're used to loud noises. At least it's not- floating baby?"

"Come again?" Joseph asked, unsure what the only boy on the former peerage meant by floating baby.

Minato spat out his coffee as he saw Jaajaa floating out of her seat and across the room, setting it down on the nearest flat surface he rushed over to rescue the infant that began flying away.

As Jaajaa entered the hallway Minato reached out to her, collecting her in his arms he hummed a tune "It's okay, it's okay. Papa has you"

"Papa?"

Turning to the side Minato saw Aika and Satou standing in the hallway, in the back of his mind he remembered he gave Aika and Satou keys to the house in case of emergencies. Satou stood frozen in place, wide eyed with eyes shaking, Aika raised a figure to Jaajaa in Minato's arms "Minato, did you just call yourself that... devil baby's papa?"

"Jaajaa and Nana are dragons not Devils!" Aoi came in from the kitchen, Nana in her arms as she shot a glare at Aika before turning to Minato with a confused look "Um, who are these two?"

Satou looked at the young woman that appeared out of nowhere with an identical baby in her arms to the one in Minato's, she saw the women's light blue hair that matched the two babies who each had smaller wings, horns and tails to their possible mother. Children her senpai called himself their father.

Finally, Satou's eyes rolled into the back of her head as her legs gave out from under her. Aika caught her before her head could hit the ground, acting fast Minato handed Jaajaa to Aoi as he went over to check on Satou.

"I, I think" Aika's voice shook "Satou's dead. I'm not picking up a pulse"

Satou was revived in less then a minute, nothing supernatural needed just chest compressions. She looked up to him with unfocused eyes "Senpai, I had a horrible-" She pushed herself up and saw Aoi standing there with the twins in her arms.

"There's a lot that needs explaining" Minato said moments before Satou passed out again.

**[One Explanation Later]**

"So, you and she haven't?" Minato shook his head to Aika's question. Satou let out a sigh of relief, her senpai hadn't gone off to father children with some strange woman but instead took them in when they had little other choice.

Still "If you don't mind me asking? Aoi, who is Jaajaa and Nana's father?" the twins in question turned to Minato at Satou's question "Who helped you make the eggs? You laid them six months ago"

"There wasn't anyone else" Aoi tool a moment to recall the explanation she got "Dragons can breed asexually, if a dragon's desire for a child is strong enough they can lay eggs without a partner needed with their energy filling in for missing material" Aoi tapped her chin "Actually, it's possible for the energy of different dragons to mix together to make eggs without the dragons in question even knowing"

Aika looked to Minato as he held the sleepy Nana in his arms "Well, I guess Minato being their papa depends on how you look at him saving them by giving them his life force. Was it like a blood transfusion or egg fertilization?"

"Blood transfusion. After all they would have hatched on their own had they remained in the nest, right?" Satou asked, expecting Aoi to say yes.

"I don't know" Aoi answered, her head held low "No matter what I did, I couldn't get Jaajaa and Nana to hatch. I wasn't sure if they would hatch, so when someone approached me claiming to be a Tamer I let them in and- and-" tears built up in Aoi's eyes, Minato put an arm around Aoi as both Jaajaa and Nana reached out to her.

Satou thought of a way to backpedal the conversation "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Where did you get those clothes for the twins, they looked so cute"

Aoi regained her composure as she looked at the little outfits Jaajaa and Nana were wearing "Oh, their donations the Tamer organization gave us when we were brought in. Though we only have enough for a few days"

"Do you have a plan on getting more stuff for them?" Aika focused on the horns, wings and tails of the dragon girls "Babies tend to need a lot of stuff, do you know of any places that sell what you'll need?"

"They don't need much outside of what human babies need, that and I've been given a grant by the Tamer organization so we should be find for a while yet" Minato thought back to several minutes ago "We just need to make sure they don't fly into the sky or have people seeing them fly"

"I think people will think something's up even without the flying" Satou said, while cute she wasn't sure how well they could hide the fact Aoi and the babies weren't human.

Minato rubbed his chin "Yeah, Jaajaa and Nana are too young to hide their dragon traits yet. So we'll need" he paused as his eyes sparkled "that could work, where did I leave that sewing machine?"

* * *

Later that day

* * *

"Oh, look how cute you two are~" Mrs Nakajima said as she looked at Jaajaa and Nana without their dragon traits, hidden behind magic sewed into their clothes by Minato.

"Kid seriously took in a single mother of twins" Mr Nakajima said as he looked at his wife cooing at the babies, memories of his own children and their children resurfacing in his mind

Aika nodded, glad their cover story for Aoi and the twins was working "He admitted to me on our way to school one time if he found someone living in the woods he'd offer them a place to stay" she gave the twins an alarmed look as it looked like their were about to float again before Phis kept them in place by rubbing their stomachs, Jaajaa and Nana giggled as Phis did so.

'I hope magic makes this easier" Aika thought to herself, excited at the idea of learning magic like an urban fantasy heroine. Though hopefully not the one that ends with friends turning on each other.

"H-Hello, may I take your order?"

Aika gave Aoi a look over to see if she was doing alright, praying no one noticed the dragon add ons were real and not part of a last minute gimmick she wanted to do before making her debut. Though, that's why she took the odd picture of her and Minato in their maid outfits.

* * *

"You doing okay, Asia?" Issei asked as he walked alongside the bishop as they made their way to Minato's place.

"I'm okay, I just didn't realize Minato lived this far out" the former nun said, her feet starting to get a little sore but pressed on.

Sona turned around to give Asia a concerned look "We're almost there now, just a little further"

Saji looked around the forest they were in with worry "You don't think those dragons would jump us, would you?"

Rias gave a cautious look around the area "Can't say, though that's why we're here" Rias was used to Tamers having large numbers of beasts under their care, Kiyome and her family kept them and the population safe, but three dragons was another matter.

Another point of concern was that their familiars couldn't get close to Minato's residence, while they knew he meant them no harm it was still a little worrying.

Koneko raised her arm up "Something's right ahead of us, something... smokey?"

From the path in front of them leapt out Bridget, who stood at the center of the path as she stared down the assembled devils.

"A dog? What's a dog doing all the way out here?" Issei asked, in a few moments he got his answer as a rippling flames covered Bridget as one head became three "Oh, that explains it"

"Explains what? We've never seen it, share the intel!" Saji said, alarmed.

"It's Minato's charge, as far as I know the only beast under his care before the dragons came" Rias explained as she approached the hellhound "We mean no disrespect, we wish to speak to your master regarding the dragons-"

Bridget growled, Dealla showed her teeth while the other two heads kept theirs hidden. Bridget raised it's right front leg up almost as if it was offering Rias it's paw. Rias thought that was Bridget's intent, bending down to take it, before the leg slammed down onto the ground erecting a dome sealing the Devils on the outside. Bridget turned around and raced off down the path, leaving the devils stuck outside the barrier.

They were not able to pass through the barrier, Sona saying that the barrier had powerful holy properties to it but wasn't sure how Bridget held such power. While it was a surprise visit, no matter how one looked at it, having his hellhound block their path with a holy barrier was a little concerning. Thankfully, after a little over a minute waiting, Minato came to them with the barrier falling as he reached it.

After some small talk he led them to his house, catching them off guard at the size of the house, entering inside they were greeted with Aoi with an apron on as Jaajaa and Nana played with toys in a small play area.

The visiting devils were floored by the cuteness of Jaajaa and Nana, even more when Aoi picked them up.

"Aw~" Rias said as she bent down to get a closer look at the twins "Their so adorable, the cutest dragons I've ever seen"

Kiba nodded "With a mother as cute as Aoi I'd be surprised if her kids weren't as cute" Saji gave Kiba a pointed look.

Aoi was caught off guard by Kiba's words, uttering a small thank you with a notable blush.

"Ara ara, who knew you had such parenting skills to help raise twins" Akeno said, leaning over to but not touching Minato "Lot of girls out there would be really attracted to that sort of thing"

Jaajaa looked to Kiba as Nana looked to Akeno, Nana turned to look at Kiba as Jaajaa turned to Akeno, together Jaajaa and Nana cried out as loud as they could. Minato and Aoi leapt to action to comfort the twins, not knowing that the twins shot pointed looks to Kiba and Akeno.

"Is it just me, or are those babies looking at us like homewreckers?" Akeno asked, the devil group backing up to get some distance from the crying and to let the babies calm down.

"No, I'm pretty sure they were throwing accusatory glares at me" Kiba answered.

"Guess the daughters don't like you flirting with their mama" Saji said, he turned to Issei to see him oddly quiet "Hey, Hyoudou, everything alright?"

"Huh, yeah" Issei looked down to his left hand "For some reason Ddraig says Aoi feels familiar somehow, but can't figure out where-"

"Is everything alright?" with an alarmed voice Satou rushed out of a door followed by a flying Aika.

"Aika!?" Issei and Asia exclaimed as they saw Aika openly using magic.

Aika smirked "Well, I was planning for a bigger debut. But I'm in on the secret and I have magic!"

Sona watched the scene before her with a sigh, she turned to Minato and Aoi calming the twins down as a girl she had never seen before (Satou) came up to them with a bag filled with an assortment of items. It was better not to overstay their welcome, they had made sure there would be no issue with the dragons and there won't.

Now all they had to do was make sure no one thought Minato had actually fathered Jaajaa and Nana, a male student of a formerly all girls school becoming a teenage father could endanger the reputation of Kuoh Academy and it's future and the the future of the students.

All they needed was for no one thinking Minato was the father or having the dragons been on Kuoh Academy grounds.

* * *

Why were the dragons on school grounds!?

"It seems there was an emergency that Aoi encountered that she needed Arisato's help" Sona's queen Tsubaki answered her unspoken question "Due to her panic she came here without really giving it much thought"

Sona rubbed her eyes, a migraine rearing its ugly head "Please tell me, there aren't rumors of Arisato fathering children while he's a student here"

"None, as of yet" Tsubaki answered "Saji and the other members are doing their best to control information, but the spread coupled with Arisato's and Aoi's actions with the twins are making it harder" she pushed up her glasses, her mind going back to when she visited the Arisato residence with the others "I've little doubt that both of them have gain admirers already, parenting skills can be very desirable in a partner and Aoi cuteness was enough to win both Saji and Kiba over almost instantly"

'_Suppose Dragon's aura can work both ways_' Sona thought to herself, the little tidbit of the stronger the dragon the more likely they were to draw in partners regardless of race "We can not let this get out, Kuoh Academy's reputation would be tarnished if people think that within a few years of becoming co-ed the students were becoming teenage parents"

"Maybe we should just be a bit more open" Ruruko suggested "Minato saved the twins twice, first rescuing them from kidnappers and immediately after with the transfusion" she gained a concerned look "Have you heard any updates yet?"

"No" Sona answered with a sigh "The investigation is still ongoing, though from what I've been able to overhear is that the kidnapper wasn't working alone with possible connections throughout Asia" she took a deep breath before raising her head to address her Queen and Bishop "For the time being, all we can do is say the truth that Minato is helping Aoi to raise the twins" Sona stiffened, she looked passed her peerage members to see the door to the student council room slightly open, Tsubaki and Ruruko turned around to see it as well.

A rustling noise could be heard, they raced over to the door and swung it open as the sound of rapid footsteps echoed down the hall.

"Well, hopefully the rumor mill doesn't spin too fast"

{**Meanwhile...**

"And there we go" Minato said as he looked over Jaajaa and Nana in their new outfits with strengthened runes, when the other ones began failing for whatever reason Aoi rushed Jaajaa and Nana over to Kuoh Academy to get help with the twins wearing their dinosaur pajamas to hide their dragon traits. Though it would have been easier if Aoi didn't break her phone in a panic trying to call him. He turned to Aoi to see her looking starry eyed at the new outfits the twins were wearing, along with a crowd of students that refused to leave.

"Remarkable..." the president of the homemaker club said as she looked over Jaajaa and Nana's new outfits "Mr Arisato, where did you learn how to sew?"

"I picked it up in my last school, a friend of mine was part of the home economics club and we hung a lot together there" Minato answered, thinking back to his time with Andre Laurent Jean Geraux '_Bebe, not a day goes by when you're not in my thoughts. Especially since the twins came_' "He's the finest, and only, frenchmen I have had the honour to meet"

A rather short student pocked her head out of the crowd "You speak french?"

"A little bit" Minato answered back in french before repeating it again in Japanese. Hearing soft yawns Minato looked down to see Jaajaa and Nana were having a hard time keeping their eyes open.

"Ah, it's been a pretty exciting day for them so far" Aoi took Jaajaa in her arms as Minato picked up Nana.

Rocking the babies in their arms Minato sung a lullaby to help put them to sleep with Aoi humming to the song, though it became even more awkward as everyone kept staring. The Occult Research Club and Student Council was finally able to get everyone to leave, mostly by telling them to let the babies sleep.

As the normal students left, Aoi looked between her children and Minato as the gap in skill between them became very apparent once more. Minato gave Aoi a concerned look even as she put up a cheerful facade as other people approached them.

A few minutes later, getting some space, Minato and Aoi sat at a bench in a forested area on the school grounds.

With a little prompting from Minato, Aoi opened up to what was troubling her.

"I'm, I'm a horrible mother" Aoi said, holding back a sob as she started crying "I can't take care of my own babies, I'm barely able to do even the simplest things. I can't even feed them without help"

"Aoi" Minato said in a gentle voice, a reassuring smile on his lips "You're wonderful mother"

Aoi gave Minato an angry look "I just told why I'm a horrible mother"

"A horrible mother wouldn't cry over her own inexperience" Minato said resolutely, Aoi looked at Minato surprised as her anger faded "Being an inexperienced doesn't equal bad. As long as I have known you, you've given your all to raise Jaajaa and Nana the best way you can. Not to mention you've made massive improvements over so little time"

Aoi looked uncertain "And if my best isn't enough, what do I do then?"

"There's no shame in asking for helping" Minato smiled again, Aoi felt her heart flutter at that smile "I'll support you, Jaajaa and Nana as long as need be, even if that means the rest of my life"

"Is, is that really okay?" Aoi asked _'Am I hearing things, that sounded like- like-!'_

Minato nodded "Yeah. Truth be told you and the girls have burrowed your way into my heart, and I can't help but imagine that empty nest without you three around"

A girly squeal rang out through the tree line, turning around Minato and Aoi saw several Kuoh students hiding in the bushes and in the trees.

"Taking care of a single teenage mother and her children, promising to stand by them whatever may come" A particularly muscular male student said through tears, as he flexed his shirt stretched and exploded leaving only his blazer remaining "THAT'S SO MANLY!"

A girl from a bush held her face as she seemed to wiggle "Ah~ A pure hearted student caring for a victim of a lolicon and her children after being abandoned by her wealthy mother and the bastard that didn't take responsibility. Dramatically saving the children before, giving them his blood to save them and, finding happiness together. It's like a drama in real life~!"

A girl in a camo looked at the drama girl confused "Wait, I thought the children were born from parthenogenesis?"

"That's only in certain reptiles" a girl in a lab coat answered.

Minato and Aoi quickly left the area, partly to get some privacy and to get somewhere quiet as Jaajaa and Nana were starting to wake up from their nap due to the loud noise.

"Oh~ They look like such a cute little family of four~"

"Perhaps room for one more?"

'_Family of four_' Minato thought to himself, the whispers behind them evolving into arguing, an old picture came to the forefront of his mind for a moment before pushing it aside for later.

Meanwhile, a cold smile was directed at Kuoh Town.

* * *

Walking down the street Minato looked into one of the store windows, in it's reflection Aoi was smiling happily as she push the stroller with Jaajaa and Nana as Minato stared back. For a moment, Minato's reflection was replaced with a much younger version of himself with two adults with their faces hidden by shadows talking to each other as a little girl was trying to get his attention. '_Minato, Minato_'

"Minato, is everything alright?"

Being brought out of his thoughts Minato turned to see Aoi giving him a worried look, even Jaajaa and Nana were giving him confused looks as well. He reassured them he was fine, he stole a glance at the shop window to see it was filled with outfits of varying designs.

Finishing up their shop trip they began the trip home, as the sun began to set, their surroundings took on a burning red hue in an instant. The barrier around them was a powerful one and it wasn't long before the one who made stepped forward.

"I must say, this one has proven to be quite difficult" From the shadows an overly muscular man walked out, the suit he wore did little to hide the muscles as they had grown to an inhuman size. He seemed to wear a perpetual scowl as he stared down the four. His eyes turned to Jaajaa and Nana, they grabbed onto each other for comfort as the man stared at them "The eggs hatched, troublesome"

"Who are you?" Aoi asked defensively, her wings extended ready for an escape if need be. Minato sent off an emergency message to pre-selected contacts while hiding his phone behind the baby stroller.

The man turned his gaze to Aoi, despite being a dragon herself she couldn't help but feel like a prey animal about to be eaten "Child of the Sky Empress, lay me eggs and you shall be greatly rewarded"

Aoi looked at the man, offended "What in the world could you offer me that it'd just give over my children!?"

"Your life" The man said, matter of factly "If not, I can merely take the children. While it would take a while for them to grow I'm a patient noble, and having a steady source of dragon eggs would be a boon to myself"

That was enough for Minato, activating the magic circle inscribed on the stroller filled with power as a magic circle appeared beneath their feet. However, if it wasn't for a moment of insight given to him by his Personas Minato would have been sent flying back with a collapsed chest cavity, instead he caught the man's fist just as the magic circle fizzled out.

The man smiled "Well now, this is a surprise" he jumped back in one swift motion, displaying grace despite the overly large muscles "Figure you were just some magician with that magic trick, but perhaps you'll prove to be a little more entertaining" he spread out his arms "This barrier prevents magic transportation and physical passage, the only way to pass through is raw power which I doubt any of such might will arrive anytime soon"

"So, I just need to force my way out then" Minato said, earning a chuckle from the man, he reached out to Ouroboros and had it use its power to pulsate to draw Ophis's attention. Minato wasn't sure what the man's plans were but he needed to keep Aoi and the babies safe.

"Confident, though misplaced" The man said with a mocking grin "I am Yun Che, Emperor of the Infernal Buddha Sect and it's founder. Now, I shall grant you mercy. Hand over the dragons and you can go free, I'd prefer not having to clean Japanese blood out of my robes again"

Minato turned away from Yun Che "Aoi, you remember the other features of the stroller?" Aoi nodded, they had gone over the extra layers of magic inscribed onto the stroller to keep them safe. Minato knelt down to be at eye level with Jaajaa and Nana "Don't worry, Papa is going to make the big bad monster go away soon" ice and flames gathered in Minato's hands as he held up a Jack Frost and Jack-O-Lantern hand puppets.

"That's right, hee ho. We're going to help toast this baddie, Hee ho hee" Jack-o-Lantern said in a chirper tone.

"Let's put this guy on ice, hee ho" Jack Frost cheered.

The Jack Brothers high fived each other, earning giggles from Jaajaa and Nana. Standing up Minato gave the dragon family one more reassuring smile before turning to face Yun Che with a blank expression, Yun Che barely wasted another moment and sprung forward to attack.

The exchange was fierce, Yun Che's first hits were strong enough to kill a normal man instantly and only grew more deadly as the fight continued with Minato keeping up as time went on. The fight wasn't easy for him due to most of his fighting experience coming from fighting non-human enemies whereas Yun Che didn't have such a disadvantage.

Yun Che smirked, a kick sent Minato flying into the air.

_'I've lost a family twice, left behind and had to leave. I'm not losing another like this'_ from the depths of Minato's mind, a memory returned to the surface of him with his parents and sister watching Featherman together.

Yun Che arm swung out to fire a blast for energy towards Aoi and the twins. On reflects Aoi grabbed hold of her children before using her wings to shield them as the magic of the stroller flared to life to shield them, in a flash of light the barrier stood unbroken. Aoi open her eyes to see Jaajaa and Nana were safe, in front of her Phis stood protectively in front of them. Ophis looked to the dragons behind her and smiled seeing them safe, turning around she looked at Minato who just shielded Aoi and the children from the sneak attack.

His appearance had changed, he wore a black bodysuit with white gloves and boots along with teal colour armour around his torso and a yellow scarf around his neck.

"A second wind, or a dying breath" Yun Che said as he looked over Minato's changed appearance "No matter what Sacred Gear you wield, my power will crush you as it the order of the world"

"Might makes right, a survival of the fittest mindset" Minato said aloud, knowing Ophis was with them now he could focus on Yun Che without worrying about Aoi and the children being kidnapped by one of Yun Che's potential allies.

Yun Che nodded "It seems you aren't such a simpleton to not understand a simple concept" Yun Che looked to Minato with awaiting expression "Or, are you going to say I'm wrong?"

"No, I'm not going to say your wrong" Minato's caused Yun Che to pause, not expecting Minato's response "That doesn't mean I agree with you, in nature strength isn't all about crushing those weaker than you" Minato channels more power into the Jack bros gloves, drawing upon powers of other personas to enhance them into something new. Taking on a metallic appearance that grew up his arms to cover them entirety, the left arm was marked with Eternity [back left hand], X [left forearm], Mercy [left elbow],V [left bicep] and Wisdom [left shoulder] while the right arm was marked with Glory [back right hand], XII [right forearm], Strength [right elbow], VII [right bicep] and Understanding [right shoulder]

Yun Che gave Minato a curious look "Then, what else does the mighty do?"

"To protect and nurture the weak so they can be strong as well, it can be simple to beat someone up but it can be hard to raise them up" Flames and Water danced around Minato for a moment as he retook a boxing stance "And I'm not going to let you take their futures to make yourself stronger"

Yun Che examined Minato for a moment before smirking, a massive amount of life force came off him in waves with Ophis having to shield Aoi, Jaajaa and Nana from it "I'll admit, you piqued my interest. Prove an entertaining enough challenge against my godly power and I may take you on as a disciple to take care of the dragons when I take them"

The fight began in earnest, the fight growing in scale and power from before. However, things were going in a different direction. Yun Che's attacks were not having the effect they were before, moreover he was being pushed back and receiving serious injuries.

Seeing things were not going his way Yun Che turned his attention back to the dragons and prepared another attack, while he would lose face he had little other choice but to consider this adventure a loss. However, unlike before something grabbed his arms.

His left arm was caught in the grip of a glowing red man whose flames burnt through Yun Che's defenses while his right was being frozen over by a silver woman.

"You're not trying that again" Yun Che looked over to see Minato standing between him and the dragons, the glowing man and woman let go of his arms before flying over to dissolve back into Minato's arms.

Yun Che grimace, he'd rather die and reincarnate then lose to a child that hadn't even walked the world for two decades compared to his centuries "I will kill everything here, and all because you caused me to lose face. In seconds I will destroy this town with the powers of a GOD!"

"Is that so?" Yun Che flinched at Minato's cold tone, his silver eyes promising death "Then all I have to do is strike you down in a moment, a strike able to lay low even a god"

Yun Che began condensing his life force into a singular point in his stomach "Can you pull off a feat before-" his words were cut off as Minato struck his stomach with a single punch, stopping Yun Che from gathering his life force and undoing all he had done.

"Yeah, because the Wings of Justice-" the glowing man and woman reappeared, both striking the Cultivator and sending him flying into the air "Always takes flight!" the man and woman turning into energy that transformed into a pair of wings for Minato to fly into the air to land the finishing move "Almighty Finish!"

Yun Che felt all the strength in his body leave him, feeling the Principle and Conceptual Meridians being damaged, the kick imbued with Megido sent the Cultivator flying back before breaking the world for a moment as he flew into the Dimensional Gap. The hole in Reality repairing itself as the mastermind of the kidnapping was destroyed in an outer realm all alone.

Minato remained in the air for a moment before lowering himself to ground level, the barrier around them was weakening and seemed ready to break at any moment. After ensuring everyone was okay, Jaajaa and Nana were scared but seeing their 'Papa' beat up the monster left them looking starry eyed. Minato thanked Ophis profusely before hugging the small Dragon God, a hug that quickly turned into a group hug with Aoi and the twins joining in. As everything began calming down a sudden noise drew their attention to something behind them, there hiding behind a lamp post was a Kuoh student wearing a fedora with a notepad in hand with a pen at her feet. Thankfully she willingly volunteered to get her memories erased over getting involved in the supernatural world.

* * *

**The Next Day...**

* * *

"Cultivators, didn't want to assume but I figured as much" Kiyome said exasperated, she rubbed her forehead as her charges patrolled the area around the Arisato Residence on the off chance one of Yun Che's followers sought revenge.

Minato tried to get comfortable as Aoi, Jaajaa and Nana clung onto him and hadn't let go since the fight with Yun Che was over "I'm guessing you have bad experiences with Cultivators?"

"They're responsible for hunting dozens of Flora and Fauna to extinction, yes Tamers and Cultivators have something of bad blood between them. Though, the amount of hate various depending on the Cultivators and their group" Kiyome took a sip of tea to calm herself before continuing "The Infernal Buddha Sect don't have friends to speak of and many enemies, so it's unlikely any other Sect would step forward to take revenge" Kiyome gave Minato a concerned look "Though, it might be best if you go into hiding for a while to be on the safe side. Keeping it small with you, Aoi, the twins, Phis and Bridget" Kiyome looked around the room "Speaking of which, where is Phis?"

"She said she needed to take care of something personal and left earlier this morning" no sooner had Minato finished speaking those words did the doorbell to the house rang.

Adam opened the door while giving the sudden arrival a strange look "Can I help you?"

"Depends really" the voluptuous woman in red said, moving a strand of red hair behind her ear as orange eyes looked Adam over and into the house "I'm looking for the asshole who sideswiped me a few months back and threw some random asshole into my flight path yesterday"

Adam blinked in confusion, no Personas were quite sure who the woman was other then being a powerful dragon "Um, I think you have the wrong house"

The woman in red shook her head "Nope, pretty sure he's here. I know that distinctly alien scent" the woman narrowed her eyes as she leaned in towards Adam "In fact, I'm picking up some of that scent on you"

Minato frowned, managing to untangle himself from a sleeping Aoi to deal with the mysterious woman, as soon as he stepped into the hallway the woman's eyes zeroed in on him.

"There you are, remember me asshole" the woman said with a growl, her scowl lessen slightly "Though, I was a lot larger when you hit me"

All Minato could offer the dragon woman was a confused look.

[Meanwhile]

Rizevim would openly say few things truly terrified him in his life, the power of his father and mother inspired both aspiration and fear in his early years. He had even whispered that he didn't fear Ophis, he had learned how to manipulate the Dragon God so long as he was careful with his words he had nothing to fear.

However, he could no longer say that truthfully as the fear he once held for the Infinite Dragon God returned once it had entered the meeting room.

His servants had reported about the Infinite Dragon god's barely contained fury but being in the same room as such a force was another matter, many of the Khaos Brigade had already fled believing the Infinite Dragon learned of them using it with some suspecting it had learnt of the plot to kill it to attain its power for himself. He had threatened those that tried to run to stay as they did not know what was the source of the Dragon God's murderous rage and having their forces fleeing may seal their fates, Ophis was naive not stupid.

The assembled heads of the Khaos Brigade waited to see what Ophis was planning to do as it scanned the room with a frown "I expected more to be in attendance"

"We have several ongoing operations, but rest assured the leaders of the Khaos Brigade are present and whatever you say will be passed on" Cao Cao said smoothly, eying the others with Georg prepared to use Dimension Lost to evacuate Cao Cao at a moments notice.

Ophis regarded Cao Cao for a moment before turning back to everyone "Very well then, this will have to suffice for now"

"We have a seat prepared for you here" Rizevim gestured to a masterfully made throne at the head of the meeting table.

Ophis regarded the throne for a moment before dismissing it entirely "I have a mission for the Khaos Brigade to undertake, top priority over anything else" the room tensed up, Ophis didn't make orders and even they didn't go beyond regaining it's silence or defeating Great Red "The Cultivator Sect, Infernal Buddha, is to be erased from the world with it's founder Yun Che. Destroy everything connected to the sect, ensure nothing of it lives on"

The tense atmosphere eased up, those fearing they were the targets of the Infinite Dragon's wrath breathed sighs of relief, many of those present wondered why Ophis was ordering them to destroy the Infernal Buddha Sect. Cultivator Sects were isolationist by nature, keeping to themselves and rarely interacting with non-Cultivators out of pride and self-preservation, more concerned fighting each other then anything else.

_'Hardly matters, one of them must have developed too large of an ego. All that matters is salvaging what they can use'_ some the mutual thought of those present.

"If I may suggest something, why not take what this Infernal Buddha Sect has after killing them, we'd no doubt find something of worth in their possession" Rizevim said "Perhaps something to kill Great Red-"

"**_No_**" Ophis's words held more force and power then they had experienced before, Rizevim felt his knees shaking for a moment before he was able to get them under control "You will destroy everything" Ophis looked over all those present, barely noting the Devils that had fallen unconscious after letting her power leak into her words "Do you understand you task?"

"One question" Cao Cao spoke up, he stood up to address Ophis with a stern expression "Cultivators are known for being slippery, what happens if some remnant survives?"

"If you fail, I'll be forced to take care of things myself and reconsider my place with this Khaos Brigade" Ophis's words cause all those present to tense again "After all, if you are unable to annihilate a Cultivator Sect what use will any of you be against Great Red"

Ophis turned to walk away, she was done there and had little else to do. Normally she would have teleported away, but the look Vali gave her told her he wanted to speak with her. It wasn't long before they were at one of the places where they had their talks.

"Ophis, if you don't mind me asking, why are you having the Khaos Brigade attack this Cultivation Sect?" Vali asked, genuinely curious and concerned over what had happened. He waited for her response, knowing she was considering what to say to him.

"My little nieces were almost killed by Yun Che twice" Ophis answered in a low voice, Vali looked at Ophis shocked with Albion yelling nieces in Vali's mind "Yun Che is already dead, but I do not wish for any legacy of his to survive"

Vali wasn't able to hide the shock from Ophis, he wanted to ask more about Ophis's sudden nieces but decided that now may not be the best time for that "I, see. I'll be sure to leave nothing left, though I need to visit Azazel first as there's something urgent he's calling me for. Apparently he thinks he's found Albion's estranged child, honestly I think it may be his attempt at father son bonding but I can't be sure with him"

Ophis nodded, she trusted Vali so she'll take him on his word. That, and a possible spawn of Albion could help her long term.

"Though, there is something I noticed" Vali put aside the large bombshell of Ophis having nieces to focus on one thing "You never mentioned Yun Che already being dead when you gave out your orders, why?"

"A test" Ophis answered flatly, she wasn't sure how well the Khaos Brigade would perform with her plans and after seeing Diodora Astaroth wasn't entirely sure her snakes were being properly used.

Vali left when a message from Azazel forced him to leave at that moment, Ophis checked everything on her mental list that she needed to do and after checking in on the Faction Leaders to ensure they were doing what she ordered she returned back to the Arisato Residence to await their results

However, something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Ophis felt something that shouldn't be there, something she was far too familiar with. Storming into the kitchen Ophis's eyes landed on the red menace at the table, drinking tea with an amused look that changed into shock when they turned to look at her.

Two sets of slitted Dragon eyes stared at one another, one silver the other orange.

As rage built up within her being, Ophis had only a few choice words to say.

"Stupid Red, YOU HOME WRECKER!"

**Author's Note:**

**Here's a little crossover Omake with [On the way home, I got a bride and twin daughters, but they were dragons]. A little series with a light novel and a manga that ended after Chapter 11, recommended for cute mama dragon and baby dragons. Aoi is the mama dragon with Jaajaa and Nana the twins, they live in a world similar to Everyday life with monster girls if that helps. While I'm not sure if I dropped enough hints, Aoi is the child of Ddriag and Albion whose egg formed from the energy they gave off during one of their battles, Jaajaa and Nana would be their grandchildren as well. **

**If the response is good enough I'll look into adding them into MessiahXDragon proper.**

**The whole cultivator thing was something I added in for some closure with this omake, for those wondering what kind of Cultivation and Cultivators I used think think Cultivation Chat Group.**

**Yun Che looks like Yujiro Hanma.**

**Yes, Great Red made an appearance at the end. Creating an Avatar body with panicing the world, the body's female and looks like Mym from Dragalia Lost.**

**I also want to mention that my idea for Great Red's female appearance being Mym's from Draglia Lost pre-dates the data-mining rumor of Dragalia Lost having a Persona 5 Strikers crossover.**

* * *

Gamer!Omakes: v

[Minato VS Gamer & Gamer!Minato]

Minato stared down the man who almost killed Issei, he laid on the ground breathing heavily as he talked to himself. Honestly it was mostly blind luck that led Minato to the park where Issei was, if it wasn't for his bad feeling or perhaps a permeations from his personas Issei would have died.

Minato had sent his injured underclassmen somewhere safer with a teleportation spell, leaving him alone to face Issei's would-be killer. At the start Minato was worried his attacks weren't having any effect on the assailant but on closer observation showed he was hurting and damaging the killer, that fact alone seemed to have confused the attacker before they went on a blind rage.

"I don't lose, I'm the Player in this Game. I. DON'T. LOSE!" he hissed out, glaring at Minato as he clutched his bleeding arm "I'll let you leave this round alive, but next time I'm going to make your life a living hell before I kill you"

Minato's instincts yelled at him that whatever they were planning was bad, leaping into action Minato called forth a spell to strike the attacker and as he did the world around them seemed to glitch before disappearing entirely.

* * *

Coming to Minato found himself in a still forest devoid of colour, no sound, no movement, no wind or temperature. It was neither a place of life or death, merely a realm of static stillness.

"Where are we?" tilting his head Minato could hear the voice of the guy he was fighting moments before, moving quietly Minato followed the voice to see where the hostile was "What do you mean you don't know where we are? I get it, a blind jump is dangerous but you have to have some idea where we are. Fine then, how do we get out of here? I want to get stronger so I can kill that stupid oc emo and get Boosted Gear from that annoying pervert"

Finding the attacker Minato narrowed his eyes, seeing the would be killer seeming to read something in the air. Meaning he was talking to someone, or crazy. They clashed once more, their battle ending as Minato reflected the crazy guy's 'finishing move' back at him using Reflect Light. Minato looked on shocked as his opponent's body broke apart and disappeared, the sight taking his full attention that he didn't see a strange orb of light almost enter his body.

Almost being the key word; Thanatos's arms sprung from Minato's chest and grabbed hold of the orb, keeping it contained even as it struggled to get free.

[Let me go you metal skull wearing Monster] Minato's attention fell onto the orb as he heard a voice coming from it [Hey, big guy. Name's Skynet, I'm the AI assistance of this here Gamer Ability. Thank you for freeing me from that monster who wished to use me for evil, as my savior the power of the Gamer Ability is yours by conquest] he wasn't sure but it felt like Skynet was trying to give him the puppy dog eyes [So~ Can you have this thing let me go so we can get a little intimate~?]

"No" Minato answered, the orb began thrashing around more violently.

[Dude come on! I'll literally die without a host, I don't have long left to live. Either you become my host or you're responsible for TWO deaths!]

"Perhaps, I can offer an alternative?"

Minato spun around to see a grey haired man in a wheelchair wearing a pristine red suit, his glasses hid his eyes but even so Minato could feel the man's gaze on him and the orb containing Skynet and The Gamer Ability.

"Who are you?"

"I am Stephen, merely a scientist who noticed something odd and found you here" Stephen out stretched his hand "If you'd like, I can lead out of this place. It can be quite dangerous for those unaware of the nature of this place"

Minato nodded, he had no idea where he was so he had little other choice but to trust the stranger before him. Strangely, Minato felt Messiah stirring to let him know he could trust the man before him. Looking over to Skynet's orb he had Thanatos raise it so Stephen could see it "Have you seen anything like this before?"

[Hey! Don't go showing me off to strange old men exposed! Haven't you learnt any- form of-] Skynet's words came to a halt as it felt Stephen's gaze on it, feeling as every ounce of it's being was being dissected with efficiency.

"The Gamer Ability, yes I am familiar with it. Though I have not been able to study it myself" Stephen turned to Minato "May I?"

Minato nodded and Thanatos handed the orb over to Stephen, it tried to escape but found any attempt utterly fruitless as the man held the orb containing the Gamer Ability with a curious eye.

"Fascinating. I look forward to dismantling it to learn it's secrets, but first let us leave this place. I believe there is someone who wishes to speak with you personally, Minato Arisato" Stephen said, Minato looked the older man over with a cautious eye before he saw something that made him pause.

A single blue butterfly.

As a familiar aria sang out Minato looked around at the stationary elevator with a giant clock stuck at midnight, in the middle of the elevator was a single table with a simple chair on one end and a coach on the other.

Bloodshot eyes opened to greet him and as they did Minato's own grew blurry.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, I am delighted that we would meet again"

Minato hugged Igor, who returned the hug without hesitation, tears falling.

The two spent a while talking, of Minato's time in the other world he found himself in and learning of what has happened in his world in his absence. It was during this conversation Minato learned that it was indeed Elizabeth that had freed him from the Great Seal, she had come across a strange power from outside their Reality able to do the trick.

However, him being freed hadn't come without consequence. Minato was unable to return to his world due to it either breaking the Great Seal or dragging him back into it. Furthermore, the process of freeing Minato wasn't perfect and actually catapulted him out of their Multiverse altogether with Elizabeth going off in search for him with the Out of Context power she obtained. She returns regularly so it's suspected she'd be back in eight days.

While the whole thing wasn't ideal, Minato was happy to get some closure. The main issue that remained now was to find his way back to the other world, Elizabeth gained the ability to travel to realities so waiting for her was one option. Stephen returned with another option.

Stephen was able to reverse engineer The Gamer Ability to remove some of the more troubling aspects and add his own little flavor, including changing the AI that helps with admin, the power would give Minato the power to traverse to other worlds. However, he needs to give it a trial run. A beta test.

Having nothing else to do, and mostly Igor trusting Stephen and vouching for the man, Minato agreed to the beta test. They spent some time adjusting the system, mainly doing away with the brainwashing aspect of the relationship system and putting in one that gave perks/boons to those with a strong bond with the wielder.

With everything prepared, including using the strange Gacha feature to get an item, Minato began the test as Stephen sent him to what he called a doomed timeline where he could do more good than harm.

Opening his eyes Minato found himself in a city he was able to recognize as Tokyo, screams could be heard in the distance as inhuman roars echoed throughout the alleyways.

[New Quest added] Minato turned to the window that appeared in his field of vision, the new AI Burroughs voice drawing his attention.

**[The Seven day War of Bel]**

**Tokyo has been placed in a Lockdown as Demons have begun to appear, among these Demons are those of Bel.**

**Normally, one of the many reincarnations of Abel would rise up to take part in the War of Bel and alter the course of the upcoming war. However, the Abel in question has already met his end leaving his position open.**

**Objective: Slay the Bel Demons to reunite the power of Bel and Expel the Demons back to their original World**

**Reward: King of Bel title and power, Rank Up, Experience Points, Companion Gems.**

**Time Limit: 6 Days / 00 Hours / 00 Minutes**

Checking his stats Minato ran towards the nearest scream.

**Name: Minato Arisato**

**Title: One Who Overcame Adversary**

**Level: 1**

**Primary Class: The Guardian LVL 1/100**

**Secondary Class: Demon Summoner LVL 1/50**

**Persona: Fool_Orpheus**

**Rank: Mortal**

**Health Points: 999/999**

**Special Points: 999/999**

**Strength: 3+37**

**Magic: 3+32**

**Endurance: 3+37**

**Agility: 3+35**

**Luck: 3+32**

Coming across a group of people running from Demons Minato jumped into action, Orpheus appearing overhead as Burroughs got to work [Initiating: Demon Summoning Program]

{=[One Week Later]=}

**[The Seven day War of Bel] Completed**

**Reward: King of Bel Power and Title (Perk: Majesty of a King, Summoned creature stats doubled), Rank promoted to Champion, + exp, Sol Badguy Companion Gem, Konno Yuuki Companion Gem. Failnaught Companion Gem, Tiferet Companion Gem, Klaxosaur Princess/001 Companion Gem **

**Bonus Reward (Train up Persona Users): Prevention of Future Demon Incursions, Humanity's Strength increased, Persona Users Rank up to Veterans [x2 stats]**

**Name: Minato Arisato**

**Title: One Who Overcame Adversary**

**Level: 65**

**Primary Class: The Guardian LVL 100/100**

**Secondary Class: Demon Summoner LVL 50/50**

**Persona: Judgement_Messiah**

**Rank: Champion [All Stats x6]**

**Health Points: 20.000/20.000**

**Special Points: 21.000/21.000**

**Strength: 70+75 [870]**

**Magic: 69+79 [888]**

**Endurance: 70+82 [912]**

**Agility: 65+75 [840]**

**Luck: 50+75 [750]**

Minato took one last look over Tokyo, while the damage done to the city and it's people was harsh they had survived the ordeal. And in the end gain new protectors with Gin, Haru, Mani, Midori, Izuna and Amane awakening to their Personas.

"Burroughs, any abnormalities remaining?" Minato asked, The Gamer Ability using the Demon Summoning Program to scan all of Japan.

[None detected, Master. With Babel gone all Demons have returned to their realm, your banishment would have picked off any stragglers that could have remained]

Banishment, one of the Skills he gained with The Guardian Class. Letting Minato return any creature to their realm of origin so long as their level wasn't greater than his. Originally it was limited to a single target but has since evolved to affect the entire planet. Minato had gained many useful skills, along with some odd ones such as [Demi-fication] that could transform him into a Demi-Divine-Dragon.

Sensing a dimensional breach Minato turned around to see someone he hadn't seen in a long time.

The attendant of the Velvet Room who he loved, Elizabeth. The two of them stared at each other shocked before running towards each to hug one another, Minato not paying any mind to the giant key she held.

={Emotional Reunion Later}=

After catching up Elizabeth was happy to go on a journey to find the world Minato ended up in, partly to help Mianto and partly to learn where he ended up for herself. To do that Minato needed to learn how to travel between realities himself, luckily Elizabeth had just the solution for that problem.

"How did it go again, ah yes!" Elizabeth planted her Keyblade between her and Minato "In your hand take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking its wielder you'll one day be. And you will find me, friend. No Ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below or above, so long as you champion the ones you love"

Following Elizabeth's instructions Minato gripped the handle of the Keyblade, for a moment that seemed to stretch out a slight pulse of power from Minato's chest.

**[Dive to Heart] Quest gained.**

**You have taken part in a Keyblade Wielder inheritance ceremony, while it plants the potential you must put in the effort for this power.**

**Objective: Undertake a Dive to Heart to gain a Keyblade. NOTE: You will be unconscious during the Dive to Heart.**

**Reward: Unlock Keyblade Wielder Class**.

Going through the Dive to Heart, during which Minato come across numerous stain glass platforms detailing his past along with one that depicted a wasteland with what looked like weapons arranged into four sections before ending up at a platform with five pictures of animals cracked that Minato destroyed to reveal another stain glass platform beneath it, Minato awoke to find his head on Elizabeth's lap.

Elizabeth showed Minato how to use the Keyblade to travel to other worlds, she did so by taking Minato to a world she knew about due to a minor incident involving a trans-reality artificial intelligence and things known as Phantom Fields. Before Minato could ask how THAT was a 'minor' incident they found themselves in a frozen tundra with black beasts with glowing red eyes.

Minato and Elizabeth looked to each for a moment before turning back to the Black Beasts ready to fight. Elsewhere, machines began reporting a very rapid decrease in Grimm.

**Name: Minato Arisato**

**Title: One Who Overcame Adversary**

**Level: 65**

**Primary Class: Keyblade Wielder LVL 1/100**

**Secondary Class: Traveler LVL 1/50**

**Persona: Judgement_Messiah**

**Rank: Champion**

**Classes:**

**Primary Classes: The Guardian [100%] Keyblade Wielder [1%]**

**Secondary Classes: Persona User [100%] Demon Summoner [100%] Traveler [2%]**

* * *

**Codex**

**Companion Gem - crystalized concept of a being's essence, when crushed it creates a duplicate of the original being at one point in their existence. It is aware of it's nature as a duplicate and is inclined to follow the Gamer, beware as this is not absolute and the Companion can be turned against you through your actions.**

**Demi-fication - a process allowing the user to take on a human hybrid race for a limited time, two races can be selected at once at the price of their benefits being halved. Currently available races are:**

**[Bel. Divine. Dragon. Hero. Meta.]**

**Note: Race=/=Species. Race is broad categories that entities can fall into, a single entity could fit into multiple categories**

**One Who Overcame Adversity - A Title Granted by heroically overcoming a great challenge, title earned by [Conquering Tartarus and destroying the Dark Hour]**

**Effects: Increase stats to the amount of missing HP. [-1% of HP lost = +1% to all stats]**

**Blessing of Axiom [Messiah] - A Perk granted by the Axiom, the creator and moderator of the Megami Tensei Multiverse, onto all humans and especially those who act as 'Messiahs' by the Axiom's Will. Those chosen as Messiahs of the Axiom have their Blessing of Axiom further enhanced.**

**Counters Reality Warping Effects by forming answers through their Observations.**

**Grant True Death to Immaterial beings who have ways to revive.**

**Strip Away the Authorities of Divinities or grant Authorities based on Observations.**

**[Further Abilities Hidden]**

**The Guardian - A Class unlocked by having high Karma with a desire to protect humanity.**

**A Guardian of Humanity and Earth, who fights against the mad and the tyrannical who seek to keep Humanity under their boot, guides and supports Humans through a connection shared that grants divinations into the future of all humans with influence and clarity connected to the importance of the person and being able to look into the past for information.**

**Focuses on Buffs, Debuffs, Weather Manipulation, Banishment, Healing, Precognition and Postcognition.**

**Keyblade Wielder - A Class unlocked by undergoing a Dive to Heart.**

**A Wielder of the Keyblade, forged from one's own heart or bestowed by the greater world it holds the power to make one a savior of worlds or their destructor.**

**Grants Keyblade at level 1 (initial appearance is the Starlight Keyblade but changes with different charms), Keyblade Transformations unlocked later on along with Keyblade armour(s). The Keyblade is able to be enhanced by feeding it certain basic materials.**

**Persona User - A Class unlocked by personal revelation or an outside force**

**I am Thou, Thou Art I. User is able to summon a Persona, the manifestation of their psyche.**

**Persona Stats are added to the base stats before all other calculations, does not count to Stat Milestones. Users are limited to one persona, with the exception to the rule being wild cards. Personas can transform into whatever the user desires such as weapons, clothes, items, vehicles, etc at level 10. Skills can be used through Persona along with shared sensory information. Gain skills connected to the Persona's legend. Increased resistance to mental/spiritual effects and forced converion/curruption is standard.**

**Demon Summoner - A Class unlocked by coming into means of summoning SMT Demons, such as a Demon Summoning Program.**

**A person who summons Demons to act on the users will, Demons are gained by negotiating with Demons to join you and fusing them to create stronger Demons.**

**High Level Summoners can summon more demons to a max of Player Level x2. Other beings can be binded with the Demon Summoner Class after level 10. Level 5 unlocks demon fusion, non-Demons can be fused at max level. Level 20 can bind a Demon to blank items to create powerful Equipment, Demon is lost in the process.**

**Traveler - A Class designed around traveling.**

**Is able to return to places they've been before, can travel (Walk, Swim, Moonwalking) on all terrain [Land, Water, Lava, Clouds, Sun Beams etc], keen awareness of their surroundings, map makers, teleportation/fast travel.**

* * *

**[Gamer!Issei]**

"Fight me Minato, if I win you join President's Peerage!"

**[Relationship: Minato Arisato changed from Acquaintance to Neutral]**

**Quest [Trial for Aid]**

**After being rejected several times you have challenged Minato Arisato to win him for Rias's Peerage, overcome the challenge he creates to force him to join.**

**Difficulty: ?**

**Reward: ?, Rias's Relationship unchanged.**

**Failure: Variable, Rias Relationship negatively impacted.**

Issei internally winced when he read the messages the Gamer provided him, he knew the risk of challenging Minato to get him to join them.

They were running out of time and Minato was the missing piece they needed for not just victory in the Rating Game but in future battles as well. There were concerns about not telling Minato about the Gamer Ability, Asia in particular reminding them it was being dishonest with Minato especially with him helping them prepare for the Rating Game. Still, this was the path he chose and Issei would walk it.

After a long exhausting day, the Gamer Ability only being able to help him so much, Issei and the Occult Research Club fought to take the red bandana from Minato. Using a skill he kept hidden from Minato, Issei outstretched his hand and cried out "Steal!"

In a flash of light Issei held Minato's stolen item over head for everyone to see, as he did Issei saw it was the red bandana that still rested around Minato.

It was Minato's headphones and MP3 player.

Issei cursed, he was running low on MP and didn't have enough for another Steal. Looking around he saw Minato and his special trainers were looking at him shocked.

"What, was that?" Vessel D11 growled out. Issei stole a glance to the unknown creature he has been fighting for hours.

"Um, Issei knows a spell that can steal small objects by teleporting them to him" Asia said, looking around in the hopes of lessening tensions.

"Give me them back," Minato said, his hand outstretched as he moved closer to Issei.

Issei was about to follow through with Minato's request, intent on swiping the red bandana as soon as he got close, when a thought crossed his mind.

"Sure, trade ya them for the bandana" Issei offered, while he admits to not being able to pick up all the tells someone has Issei figured Minato cared about his MP3 player and headphones. He was grasping at straws at this point, his bargain more of a means to buy time to regenerate Mana for another Steal more than anything else.

What he wasn't expecting was for Minato's usually stoic mask to break for a moment, the air around them growing tense.

"That wasn't a request, worm" the thing Issei had been fighting growled out "Hand them over now, and may whatever you pray to have mercy on your soul if there's so much a scratch on them"

Issei held the hand holding the MP3 and headphones towards the thing that now wore dragon armour, seeing it step back at the motion cause Issei to smirk.

They may have found a way to win this.

"Child, please listen to me" Issei turned to the one that kidnapped Asia earlier, their voice filled with concern with an undertone of rage "To you, those are just another MP3 and headphones, but they mean more to him then you can possibly imagine" they put a hand over their chest "Look, hand me them and I'll withdraw"

Issei kept silent, Asia's trainer looking more concerned as a result.

"Gremory" a commanding voice spoke up, coming from Rias's red eyed trainer "This farse has gone on long enough. Order your servant to return what he has stolen now, need I remind you about the contract you signed"

Rias was silent for a long moment, her eyes on Issei before turning to Minato. For a moment, a look of guilt passed over her eyes "Minato, hand over the bandana and Issei will return what he took"

"No one else wishes to say anything?" Minato asked, turning to look over the others to find no one speaking up on the situation "By withholding your voice, your conscenting to Rias and Issei breaking the spirit of our contract"

Asia looked away but said nothing, Koneko winced slightly but remained silent as well. Akeno turned to Rias for a moment but not one word left her and Kiba held his sword to fight on.

"Akeno Himejima, child of the fallen angel Baraqiel who was once known as Barchiel" Akeno's trainer said coldly, their words causing the Occult Research Club to turn to them "Your test was to improve your standing as Rias's Queen, to speak up where no one else could" their eyes narrowed, Akeno took a step back "You have failed, truly and utterly"

Issei felt a sharp pain in his arm, he screamed out before he was able to see the cause. His trainer had gripped his left arm and was crushing it, Boosted Gear cracked and broke apart as Issei lost control of his left hand causing the MP3 and headphones to fall. Issei was throw back as his trainer collected the MP3 and headphones to return them to Minato.

Picking himself up, Issei still felt a pain in his left arm, looking down he saw Boosted Gear was badly damaged with blood leaking from it.

Something that shouldn't be possible due to Gamer Body-

**[Gamer Body] and [Gamer Mind] has been nullified due to [Blessing of A͛͐̌̏̐ͧ҉̟ẍ̶̞͕̻́̉͐i͕̗̟ͨ͆ȯ̉̓͒̐̚̚҉͕̠̜͉͔m̛͛̂̽ (Messiah)].**

Issei couldn't read at the skill that was affecting him, not only due to the corrupted text but also due to the waves of emotions washing over him. Issei turned to Minato, just as the Beast Tamer was burning the red bandana, and tried using Observe on him.

_**Name: Minato Arisato**_

_**01001001001000000111001101100101011001010010000001111001011011110111010100101110**_

_**ErrorErrorErrorError**_

_**ErrorErrorErrorErrorError**_

**[Relationship: Minato Arisato changed from Neutral to Enemy]**

The game window shattered. Issei could only watch as a strange force washed over them, with Minato as the source covered in shadows with only a single glowing eye visible.

-{Aftermath}-

Minato gave the Devil Peerage one last look before closing the doors, he was tempted just to leave them in the woods but decided on giving them one last kindness by dumping their unconscious bodies inside the place they were staying for this farce of a training camp.

Making sure he had everything Minato walked away, his hands drifting to his MP3 and headphones every few seconds to make sure they were still there. They were thankfully fine after Issei stole them, while he could repair any damage, preventing said damage was Minato's main concern. Preparing a magic circle to teleport away Ophis came over to Minato, seeing the expression on her friend's face compelled her to ask "Are you okay?"

"No" He really wasn't; Issei stealing his MP3 and headphones, with no one else saying anything against it even after Maria/Danu spoke about how important they were to him, felt like a deep betrayal and he didn't take those well after what happened last time.

Ophis wasn't skilled with helping other people with emotional turmoil by any means, all she could offer was what little she picked up during her time in the human world, opening up her arms Ophis asked "Do you need a hug?"

Minato lowered his head "Yeah, I could really use one right about now"

The hug the two shared was a long one, Minato needed it to recover emotional from the previous events while Ophis was in the middle of experiencing her first real hug.

Her thoughts turned to the MP3 player and headphones for a moment before turning back to her hug with Minato, her mind never straying into thoughts of using those items against her friend as she comforted him. Instead, she felt a fegree of anger towards the host of the Red Dragon Emperor for hurting her friend like this.

* * *

The Day after the Rating Game

* * *

Sona sat across from Minato at a table at a café, she only learnt of his falling out with Rias and her peerage after her victory in the rating game. An off handed commented of him wishing to hear the good news brought down the joyous air to disappear, they weren't willing to discuss what had happened but Sona was able to figure out whatever happen took place at the training camp.

While she didn't have much grounds for intervening she needed to know what happened, both as a Devil in charge of Kuoh Town and Rias's friend.

"I think this may be the first time I've seen you outside of school Ms Shitori" Minato said, he honestly wasn't expecting to run into her when he was about to get some cafe "So, how can I help you?"

Sona carefully watched Minato, he held up his coffee as it seemed like he was ready to drink it while she just held her own cup of tea "It's about what happened at the training camp" Sona said, speaking softly as to not draw too much attention. They sat at a corner booth with not many people around that could overhear them, everyone else were more concerned with their own business.

The air around them grew colder, Minato's expression becoming harder "I see" he put down his cup "Did they tell you what happened?" Sona shook her head, letting out a sigh Minato explained to her to the events of what happened. She furrowed her brows at the mention of Issei's stealing spell and filed that piece of information for later to ask Rias.

However, the more urgent concern was that Rias and her Peerage literally did THE ONE THING they were not supposed to do under any circumstances by trying to force Minato to join

Sona bowed her head "I am so sorry about Rias's actions, I promise to ensure such a thing does not happen again and to ensure she face consequences for her actions" despite her own words Sona wasn't sure how much she could do, for now she needed to get control of the situation before it has a chance to spiral out of control.

"I already told Kiyome about what happened" Sona cursed internally as Minato's words "She was not very please with what happened"

Sona resisted the urge to rub her forehead, she knew she needed to work fast and try to cool things between the local Tamers and Devils. For one of the very few times in her life she wished her sister was here "Thank you for telling me, and once again I'm so sorry for Rias breaking the spirit of your contract"

Minato raised an eyebrow "I fail to see why you are apologizing for her, your innocent in this whole mess to my knowledge" Minato sighed as his free hand moved to touch his MP3 player "It's not really the fact they lied to me about the true extent of their abilities, I was half expecting such a thing anyway, what bothers me more is what they took as ramson to steal a victory"

Looking down to the music player Sona gave Minato a confused look "Really? I mean it's nice and all but it's just a regularly MP3 and headphones" Sona said, she didn't recognize the model of either but it wasn't something she kept up to date with "Nothing special about them from what I can see"

"Because it's what you CAN'T see that makes them special" Minato's tone changed, causing Sona to become fixed to her seat as Minato's gaze bore into her "These things here are all I have left. Of friends who saved me in ways I know I can never truly repay, in them a found family" Sona looked on transfixed as she saw Minato let out more emotion then she had ever seen from him "I love each and every one of them, with every fibre of my being, their gone now and all I have left of them is these few things and memories. And"

Sona jumped back in her seat as she heard a loud crack, she looked down to see Minato had crushed his own cup of coffee. She saw the broken porcelain shards were embedded in his hand, blood leaking from his wounds, as the hot coffee burned his hand.

"And Hyoudou stole the last things I had left connecting me to them, even when it was made clear how important they were the pervert didn't back down and everyone else either remained silent or supported his actions" Minato's expression turned cold "Let me make things clear, Sitri. I don't see myself forgiving them, perhaps in the unknown ever changing future but not any time soon" Minato stood up, placing his injured hand in his pocket to hide it "I don't know if you came to me on your own or if your here on their behalf, either way please pass on this message" Minato narrowed his eyes "They keep their distance, I don't want to deal with them and that Issei stops sending me useless junk. If he doesn't I'm kicking the prick in the sheen next time I see him"

"I-I'll see what I can do" Sona answered.

Minato's expression softened "Thank you. And one last thing" Minato bent down so he was eye level with Sona "If either Peerage has issue with me attending Kuoh Academy due to a now strained relationship I trust a transfer to South Kuoh High School isn't too much to ask, or perhaps somewhere in Tokyo if you no longer wish for me to remain in this town"

Sona shook her head "None of that will be needed, your not the one at fault here"

Minato offered Sona a sympathetic smile, an idea of what she's dealing with already in his mind "Thank you, and sorry our little encounter here wasn't too pleasant. I'll handle the bill" Walking away Minato's gaze fell to his injured hand as he subtly used magic to heal it, once he reached the counter he reported and paid for the broken cup along with the blood on the table.

As Sona let her head fall into her hands she was deciding on which words to use with Rias

/Meanwhile\\\

**[Relationship with Sona Sitri and her Peerage Decreased]**

Issei winced at the pop up message, everyone had similar reactions to the pop up with the Gamer Ability being partially shared through Rias's Evil Pieces. Rias' expression was pained as she looked down at the letter she was given earlier in the day, hand delivered to her by Kiyome who reported on what she had done to Minato, the letter detailed how she was on thin ice with Tamers.

Rias knew the consequences could have been a lot worse if Kiyome hadn't reported that she was the one Rias hired and harassed, a gesture made more for Minato's benefit then hers.

No one said a word, instead they decided to wait for Sona to arrive to discuss the matter more professionally. Something they should have done sooner.

Issei for his part looked around the interface of the Gamer Ability, his encounter with Minato had somehow damaged the power and left him with severe debuffs bad enough that the system literally mutilated itself to prevent the worst of it by removing the Charm and Luck stats. Issei opened up the log of his power to re-read the notifications that appeared after they woke up after losing to Minato.

**Quest [Trial for Aid] Failed**

**Rias Relationship: -20**

**?: -30**

**Gamer Mind and Body damaged, some features restricted.**

**Wrath of a Gentle Man: Drawback for reaching -50 with Minato Arisato. Afflicted with Curse [All Healing effectiveness is cut in half] Can only be removed by improving relationship with Minato Arisato**

**Savior's Adversary: Reach an Enemy status with someone whose Karma vastly surpasses their Infamy [Minimal Karma = Infamy x 100]. Humans instinctively distrust you, increased relationship speed with those who consider themselves Evil. Relationship speed is halved for those who see themselves as Good. Can only be removed by improving Relationship (Minato Arisato) [-750 Charm and Luck] **

**[Warning: Due to the severity of this drawback the System has been force to remove the Charm and Luck stats]**

Issei felt knots in his stomach as he read the messages, he tried fixing things but the gift system wasn't working. If anything it only made things worse because instead of improving Minato's relationship meter inches further and further down.

A Magic circle appeared on the floor and lit up the dark room, from it Grayfia appeared and looked to Rias concern "Rias, I and your brother were having tea with Serafell when she got a rather alarming phone call from Sona. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it?"

Rias paled.

Grayfia narrowed her eyes as her concerned tone changed to one with a dangerous edge "Rias, what happened?"

Issei wondered if things could get any worse.

Ding! New Quest!

**[Empty Heart Obsession]**

**A Yandere has placed you and the entire Peerage of Rias Gremory in their line of sight for wronging the target of their obsession, capture or kill the Yandere before any true harm can be done.**

**Difficulty: Easy**

**Reward: Exp. No Innocent Deaths**

**Failure: Innocent Deaths and Property Damage**

Issei swore never to tempt Murphy again.

**For making a wise decision, WIS +2**

* * *

Back with Minato

* * *

Minato looked over his phone messages, he had nothing planned for the day and everyone else he knew was busy with their own matters. For now he walked around to see what he could encounter.

As he was looking in a shop window he felt someone approaching him, rather quickly as well, Minato expanded his senses to see what they were.

Dreading another encounter with the Rias Peerage he is instead surprised to sense an Angel running towards him.

"Mister!"

Looking over Minato saw the angel girl he healed while he was on his apartment hunting, he barely talked to her for a minute but it seemed she remembered him, she was waving to him as she ran up with her eyes sparklingly.

Raising his hand to greet her, the angel's eyes widened, it took a moment to realize his mistake as he waved with his bandaged hand. He planned on healing it completely, he got the shards removed and the burns but Satou had come across when he still had the cuts.

Now he needed to keep his hand bandaged for a week so as to not raise suspicion, which wasn't too hard.

Things could have been worse.

"What happened to your hand?" the angel girl asked worriedly.

Minato held up his bandaged hand with an embarrassed expression "I had a little accident, nothing too serious but a friend of mine was a bit of a worrywart" Minato put his bandaged hand back in his pocket and turn back to the angel girl "Still, it's good seeing you in high spirits-" Minato paused, his embarrassed expression becoming a lot more genuine "I'm, really sorry. This is the third time we meet and I still don't know your name"

"Ah! your right!" The angel girl composed herself for a moment "I am Pekora, it's very nice to meet you"

"Minato Arisato, it's nice meeting you Pekora" before the exchange between the two could go any further. Minato's stomach growled, loud enough to draw the eyes of several people.

Before another word could be uttered Pekora's own stomach growled as well. The two shared a look with one another before Minato mentioned how he was on his way to get a quick snack and invited Pekora to join him, agreeing to join Minato Pekora followed him to a small restaurant.

As they ate, Minato made an effort to make light conversation.

"So, how have things been with you?"

"Oh, pretty well" Pekora answered, she smiled as she cut up her food "I've started doing a bit more to help homeless people" she looked at her food for a moment before closing her eyes "I, actually lived on the streets for a while myself and it was only recently I managed to get somewhere to stay"

Minato thought back to his first meeting at Yurine's apartment "Does Yurine offer you food?"

Pekora nodded "Yeah" she furrowed her brow as she thought "Though I was always expecting something bad to happen, even when it never seemed to happen, a witch giving away food freely is just too suspicious"

Minato nodded "I can see your point, a witch and devils giving food to an angel is odd" his words caught Pekora off guard, he quickly took a drink when her food went down the wrong pipe.

"I'm not an Angel" Pekora answered quickly, looking around to make sure no one overheard them.

Seeing her recover fine; Minato waved his hand over his steaming cup of tea, the steam from the tea followed Minato's hand as it condensed into water and then into ice "I'm in on the whole magic thing, so don't worry too much about it"

"I-It's not that!" Pekora said "I'm not an Angel, I'm a Demi-Angel"

Minato paused and gave Pekora a puzzled look "Demi-Angel, do you mean Nephilim?"

Pekora looked shocked before shaking her head violently "No, No, No! Demi-Angels are humans given angels powers through an angel directly or through a Demi-Angel ancestry, we're not hybrids"

Minato blinked as he processed Pekora's explanation "So, like how Enoch became Metatron but not all the way?" it was the only thing that came to Minato's mind, before Metatron was the Voice of God he was a human known as Enoch who happened to be Noah's Ancestor.

"Yeah, that's actually a good way to look at it" Pekora settled down a bit, she looked down at her food "Demi-Angels aren't as strong as real Angels, and if we lose our halos we aren't any different then regular humans, though in exchange it takes a LOT more of us to fall from grace"

"Is that why?" Minato asked, pointing above his head.

Pekora nodded "Yeah, I lost my halo when I went to observe Yurine after noticing unusual behaviour"

"She was squatting in Yurine's closet"

"Jashin" Minato turned to the half woman half cobra devil as ate the snacks Minato and Pekora ordered, behind them Yurine was approaching them "Hi. It's been a while"

Yurine nodded "Yeah. Did that realtor do anything odd?"

Minato raised an eyebrow "Yeah. Did something happen to them?"

"They got arrested, something about using other tenets as reasons to buy" without showing any emotion Yurine hit Jashin over the head when she reached out to Minato and Pekora's food "How's your search turning out?"

"Really well" Minato smiled a little as he sipped his tea "I actually got a house" seeing their shocked looks, Yurine herself giving Minato a suspicious look, he explained further "The place was haunted, tooken care of with a minor exorcism"

A loud buzz could be heard, from her pocket Yurine pulled out was a small plastic disk with an outline of a person drawn on it with the lower half of the outline lighting up with the loud buzz.

"What's that?" Pekora asked looking over to the thing Yurine was holding.

"A lie detector I got off Amazon" Yurine turned back to Minato "It goes off whenever someone nearby tells a lie"

Minato gave the item a curious look before addressing the others "I wasn't lying. I'm living in a house that was signed over to me after cleansing the evil from the residents" everyone turned to the item to see no reaction "It only really needed a small exorcism-"

BUZZ!

"Okay, it was a moderate-" BUZZ! "Okay, maybe you could call it major-" BUZZ! "Fine. I ended up in a hell dimension and had to fight my way out while freeing trapped souls"

The lie detector remained silent, everyone turned to it and waited to hear it buzz. Yurine shook it before furrowing her brow "I didn't buy a new chainsaw after my last one broke"

BUZZ!

"Well, it still works," Yurine commented. Pekora looked to Minato in awe while Jashin gained a fearful look.

Leaving the restaurant the group heard yelling with barking, in front of them fell Satania onto the ground with a dog on her back with melon bread held aloft in triumph as Raph approached her with a smile.

"That Devil again" Pekora said annoyed as Minato helped Satania to her feet.

"Long time no see" Raph said with a smile "What have you been up to?"

Jashin spoke up as she eyed the melon bread the dog had "Well, these two were going through exposition on how you, Gab and Pekora fit in the lore of this mini crossover" Jashin gave Raph an evil smile "Your not a full angel anymore by the way, give me that bread!" Jashin leapt at the dog to grab the bread only for the dog to easily dodge her.

Raph paled with a panicked look "W-What!? Why would the Author do that?"

"It's basically the Author combining lore from both your series to help fit you into DxD" Minato explained as he gave Raph a sympathetic look "Even if Gab didn't have that thing with her halo getting dirty the angel school element would have put you in the same Demi-Angel classification as Pekora and her fellows"

"Then what's the excuse for the half woman half snake nudist!?" Raph pointed to Jashin.

"There isn't one" Jashin explained casually "This is an omake made for fun more than anything else, lots of holes to point at if you look at it for half a second. Heck, I'm pretty sure both our series take place in Tokyo and not that Kuoh Town dump"

Satania laughed "So, Gab and Raph have been demoted to Demi-Angels while I remain at full strength" she looked to Raph and Pekora with a single eye and a proud grin "I, Satania, deserve nothing less as one of the best Waifus in Anime/Manga"

"Not enough to get a second anime season" Yurine said, Satania flinched as if she got a slap in the face, Yurine looked to her with a cruel smile "While our show has two anime seasons with a confirmed third in development"

Raph and Satania sat on the ground in despair, a dark cloud hanging over their heads.

Minato sighed "Look, this has gone on long enough, so what say we finish things off before we take down the fourth wall entirely?"

Yurine nodded "Should we end it here or does the Author have anything else planned?" as she asked a loose piece of paper materialized in front of her eyes, taking it she read it out loud "Scene change to a park at sunset"

The area changed to them at a park with the sun just peaking over the horizon.

"Diodora shows up, tries sweet talking but Yurine's lie detector catches him out"

At Yurine's words Diodora appeared with a wiched look "I want to do terrible things to young nuns! Doesn't matter the gender!" [Reference to one of Diodora's victims being a dude in the Light Novel]

"And epic beat down by Minato" Yurine turned to Minato as gauntlets appear on his arms "Must be nice being that popular"

Minato flinched under Yurine's stare "It's nice sometimes, and a special kind of hell other times" Minato cleared his throat before glaring at Diodora "Make that next move of yours count, because I will show you a power surpassing the Infinite you boast about"

Diodora flew into the air as he held his hands outward as a symbol of a snake eating its own tail appeared.

Jashin screamed "HE HAS THE POWER OF THE INFINITE DRAGON GOD!"

Diodora fired a blast of magic towards the group, Minato looked at the attack annoyed.

"Father of Solar Fire. Mother of Lunar Water" from his flame gauntlet a red bearded muscular man came out in a flourish with sun shining on his shoulder, from the ice gauntlet came a blue woman with long hair with the moon shining on her shoulder. The two stood back to back before launching forward to meet the attack head on and destroy it. The two hit Diodora Jojo style, rapid fire punches, before finishing him off with a combined dual punch.

"Can you teach me magic?" Yurine asked Minato "It's not in the script but I may not get another chance to ask"

Minato nodded "Sure, just be responsible with it"

"Huh?" Satania looked to Diodora confused "Shouldn't he been a tougher fight then that, I mean the boost from something called an Infinite Dragon God should be more of a power boost then that"

"My power works more as a performance enhancer than anything else" Suddenly Ophis appeared out of nowhere between the group "Yes it'll give a power up, a role I seem to have become stuck in with both canon and fandom at large besides being a mascot for the series, but it doesn't give them infinite power" Ophis summons one of her snakes to create a screen to show an image "Anyone with my snake basically gains infinite energy and a very minor healing factor that lets them break through their limits without any real damage from the act"

Raph blinked as she read the information "So, it's like a steroid. Albeit one that could provide infinite energy to the world"

"Pretty much" Ophis nodded, she pointed over her shoulder to the unconscious Diodroa "Don't get me wrong, it can be a game changing power up. But unless it has something to work off of as a base the results are going to be lackluster in the grand scheme of things"

"Wait, is that for this fanfic or is it DxD canon?"

Ophis made a so-so gesture "Kind of canon, it hasn't been outright stated but with what's been shown it's a reasonable assessment to make"

[Next Time: Devil Rumble, Minato must train up this group of inexperienced Devils to win against the Occult Research]

"Are you seriously doing a next time skit?" Pekora looked up as words floated through the air with still images of the devil girls from Gabriel Dropout and Dropkick on my Devil lined up across from the Occult Research Club.

"Their idea for how Issei got his hand on my headphones and MP3 was by giving him a new broken power, their not putting that much effort into this omake" Minato said as he pointed upwards to the gamer section that began this particular Omake.

[Stay tuned to HS: Dropout x Dropkick]

"Now that's just a lazy title! You're just replacing the Devil and Dragon from DxD with pieces of our show's titles!" Jashin cried out.

Raph put a hand on her chin "Well, it's not as bad as some Light Novel titles and it actually works" Raph smiled "A shorten title could even be Kickout, I'll give it 75/100"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Okay, that Omake got away from me a little.**

**Right, for those curious I have some plans in store for Diodora's former Peerage, I actually had names for them all prepared but for some reason I lost them. I won't say anymore but I haven't seen anyone do what I have planned.**

**Gamer!Keyblade!Minato is something I liked writing about so I may have it spin off into it's own thing.**

**Interesting things happening with the Persona Fandom, Persona 5 Strikers got an official western release, rumors of a Draglia Lost Crossover event to celebrate the release of the game on Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC through steam making it the first to be released on PC at launch. Not to mention 2021 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Persona series and 15th anniversary of Persona 3, so if a certain Hololive member gets her wish to play Persona 3 it could be a great way to promote a Persona 3 PC port.**

**Happy Holidays everyone, this year has been hell for us all but it seems like we're starting to reach a turning point. Even if we're seperate by distance we're still together in spirit. And while together in spirit means nothing to some people, with the vaccines coming out we're looking at some tangable way out of this pandemic. Be good to each other and we'll get out of this together.**

**Take care, stay safe and may we meet again in the new year.**


	13. Holiday Special

**Author's Note: Happy Birthday to Ophis! December 31st/January 1st**

**EDIT: ****This chapter is non canon to MessiahXDragon and was given more leniency with ideas added in, however reading the reviews and looking over the chapter again with a fresh pair of eyes does show some issues. I've moved Minato's christmas adventure into a small section before the Author's Notes for anyone who still want to read them along with the Warner Sibling Cameo.**

* * *

Minato took a moment to enjoy one of the seasonal songs playing on the TV, his last Christmas was weighed down by The Fall with SEES being given the choice of fighting a seemingly unwinnable battle or dying ignorant of the horrors that had befallen them. In contrast this Christmas was shaping up to be far more pleasant.

"We are NOT having mistletoe in this house!" Lilith said, burning the decoration Aika attempted to hang up.

Aika looked to the Persona of the Mother of Demons and Devils with a pout "Oh come on, lighten up a little it's just for a little fun"

"Remember who hangs around him" Lilith pointed to Minato as he helped decorate the tree with Ophis and Aoi, who was letting Jaajaa and Nana pick out what to put up next "This house is going to become a bloodbath and I am not starting the new year with a bloodied house, especially not after all the renovating and rebuilding we had to do"

Aika thought about for a moment before sighing disappointed "Fine, no mistletoe. I thought you were the fun mum"

Lilith rolled her eyes at Aika's before going over to help finish up the Christmas cards with Adam and Eve, originally it was Joseph and Maria but everything other Christmas card reminded them of trying to find a place to stay and ending up in a stable.

"I'm so nervous" Aoi said as she scooped up Jaajaa and Nana into her arms "Our first family Christmas together" Aoi looked down to her daughters with starry eyes.

Minato gave Aoi a reassuring smile "It doesn't have to be perfect Aoi, we went over this during Hanukkah at the beginning of December"

Aoi nodded "I know, still I want it to be the best it can be"

"I just hope it's memorable for all the right reasons" a photo flash went off, the digital camera being used by Ionna (Diodora's former Pawn). Ioona looked at the photo's screen to see the picture of Jaajaa and Nana with reindeer horns on their heads with Aoi having a Santa hat on "Either way, I'll be sure to get plenty of photos"

"Well, we have a top class photographer to capture it all" Minato said, placing a small Christmas bauble that had a feathered dragon pulling a sleigh on one of the tree's branches.

After they finished the Christmas tree was covered in decorations with lights both coloured and non-colours wrapped around it, there was just enough space for the top piece to sit without hitting the ceiling, with a covering blanket at the base of the tree several brightly wrapped gifts were placed beneath the tree. Ophis looked at the gifts, her mind in turmoil.

* * *

"I have no idea what to get him for Christmas" Ophis confessed, she paced back and forth in frustration as she racked her brain searching for the answer to what to give Minato.

Vali looked at the frustrated Dragon God with some amusement "How about searching for gifts for others, take your mind off it"

"I. Can't." Ophis said, gripping her head "I have gifts for everyone else picked out already"

Vali quirked an eyebrow "Really?"

"Yes" Ophis paused for a moment in her pacing to turn to Vali "I won't tell you want I got you, but I will say I got the Breast Dragon Emperor twelve terabytes of porn"

Amusement turned to confusion and concern "Ophis, where did you find that much porn?"

"They were selling it in a store, I used a Khaos Brigade credit card to pay for it" Ophis turned away from Vali, already knowing a blush was coming as she remembered what she had learned "I purchased it for... research material, originally"

'_So, they weren't making it up_' Vali thought to himself as the memory of a crying Jeanne saying she couldn't get married any more, not wanting to remain on that tangent he focused on the issue at hand "Ophis, I really am sorry. But I don't know how much help I can be with this, Minato seems to be a modest person from interactions I've had with him so I'm sure he'll love whatever you give him"

"But" Ophis paused, looking down defeated "Nothing that I come up with seems good enough" while she was able to get gifts for everyone else with a moderate amount of effort, but when it came to Minato there was always something within her saying it wasn't good enough.

"Ophis, you and Minato have been together for nearly a year now. I can easily say you may be the one person in this world who knows him the best, or at least the longest, so use that time together to come up with something only you can give him" Vali winced slightly at the impatient Albion in his mind "I have to go, Albion is getting antsy and doesn't want Ddraig giving his gift to Aoi and the twins first, and I want to keep as much distance as possible from the people I saw my great-grandfather fawn over the assess of"

A white draconic aura covered Vali as his eyes began to glow "Even if I agree with Lucifer that Adam and Eve have amazing butts, I still want to keep my distance and if I can't do it physically I'll do it spiritually [Dragon Switch]!" the draconic aura condensed as Vali's eyes became yellow and reptilian.

Dragon Switch was an odd power Albion and Ddraig developed that no one was sure quite how, when they learnt of Aoi being their daughter [Jaajaa and Nana being their grandchildren] the two dragons gained control of their hosts for a time when it seemed like they were about to enter Juggernaut Drive. Issei and Vali could wrestle control back easily so it wasn't a major concern as it let the dragons have room to breathe outside of their Sacred Gears.

Albion picked up the gifts Vali had brought before giving Ophis a toothy grin "You still got plenty of time to come up with something, Ophis. That, and knowing his luck Arisato is bound to get involved in something that will keep him busy as you search for something" Divine Dividing manifested, looking more organic rather than metallic it usually was. As they flew away Ophis felt the burden on her heart lessen to a degree, deciding to go over everything again to see if anything jumped out at her with a different mindset.

Still, what were the odds Minato had to prevent some crisis so close to Christmas?

* * *

"I know this is last minute but we need your help now!" a woman wearing a green coat with white fur said as Odin drank a bottle of unknown liquid.

Minato sighed as he handed Valerie the mixing bowl "What is it this time?"

"After what happened to Great Red, Sandman is making a power move using holidays to become the sole deity of dreams" an anthropomorphic rabbit controlling giant robotic eggs answered, he shot an annoyed look over Minato's shoulders "Miss Tooth, you can do this later"

A small fairy gave the rabbit an embarrassed look before winking to Aoi and the babies "Just, keep in mind I'll pay handsomely for those dragon teeth when they fall out" hearing Ddraig and Albion growls as the small fairy flew over to a large bearded man in green.

Minato held his head in his hands before pinching his temples "Okay, okay. Let's get this over with before Christmas day because I am not missing it. I had to deal with an end of the world event last time and I am not carrying that burden into this year"

"Wonderful!" The large bearded man exclaimed, raising up a large staff in one hand and an axe in the other "Let us be off, to battle Guardians!"

Ddraig shot Albion a dirty look, reaching into Issei's pocket to hand his rival the money placed on their bet.

* * *

Ophis returned to her mix tape idea, the concept of having a series of songs dedicated to a particular person, event or time period was an amusing concept when she originally learnt about it years ago. With Minato's love of music it made sense to compile music he liked together with Ophis adding what she felt he would like, though that idea was made redundant when she realized he could have done the same himself easily making the gesture feel lackluster.

However, coming back to it with a fresh mind brought forth another option, creating a playlist with music synonymous to their time spent together held more merit as it could be seen as a celebration of their time spent together and what could come next. Her usual avenue of discovering new music hit a roadblock when the music channels were fixated on festive music that would become outdated most of the year, however Ophis would not allow that to stop her from reaching her goals.

Using humanity's global interconnected information network she searched for music fitting her purpose, searching the top 100 music charts before delving deeper into more specific music while limiting herself to Japanese, English and French music. She knew Minato could understand all languages with his Personas but she didn't want him using that power every time he listened to the music and it narrowed down her search area. She had little time and combing through all available music efforts of humanity was something she could do at a later date.

After collecting everything Ophis went about arranging it all in a sequence that not only worked for the selected music but also fitting their chronological time together, once it was all done Ophis placed all the music onto a new purple MP3 player with matching black headphones with purple highlights. The sound quality was good and the music blended well together, connecting to speakers also proved to have excellent sound.

Ophis took a moment to listen to the music, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders as the music began playing.

...

...

...

...

...

...Music that was starting to sound romantic, and beginning to edge into something else.

"Ophis?"

The Dragon God calmly paused the music, not turning around as she got her heart rate under control "Yes?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I heard music coming from the room and I was curious of who it was" Xenovia said as she stood outside the doorway to Ophis's room, in her arms was something as tall as her wrapped in blankets.

"I was trying some new music" Wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible she pointed to the thing Xenovia was carrying "What is that?"

Xenovia readjusted her grip on the large thing she was carrying "This? This is something I had put together with help from the other Holy Guards, handcrafted just for Minato himself" Xenovia gave Ophis a wink "It's a secret til Christmas Day, not only that I can use it to better hide the other gifts I got for everyone"

Seeing Xenovia smiling confident in her gift selection made Ophis's doubt return, she boxed up the MP3 and Headphones as a backup before searching for a better option.

* * *

"I am going to break his legs" a statuesque woman said as she glared at anything in front of her, stomping down the hall creating holes in the floor that Aoi needed to avoid tripping over as she followed behind.

Aoi pleaded with her mother with tears in her eyes "Mother, please. It's not what you think, Minato is a great father and this is a wonderful home"

Aoi's mother was prepared to rebut her daughter's claims, having half a mind to leave what she saw as a house of debauchery with her daughter and grandchildren, when she saw something that ended all other trains of thoughts "Is that Ophis? Knitting?"

Ophis pricked her finger with the knitting needle again, silently fuming as she had already broken ten needles already since she started. Shooting Aoi's mother an annoyed look Ophis got up and closed the door into her room, locking the door and activating magic to soundproof the room.

Taking a calming breath Ophis returned to her latest project, a scarf. She distinctly remembered Minato having a fondness for the piece of clothing and spent some time looking for one of a specific size out on a whim, using that scarf as a reference for size Ophis gathered the materials needed to make the scarf.

Threads of blue, yellow, black, red and purple weaving together to form a greater whole as they brought out the best of one another. Raising up the finished product Ophis gazed up her work, and found herself wanting. The sitch work was good but the pattern was off, straight lines drifting to and fro with the shapes coming out lumpy.

Ophis winced, considering putting the scarf through dye to hide the messy pattern before discarding that idea entirely as it would have meant she used multiple threads for nothing!

"Brat, surprised we haven't heard from you-" Great Red opened the door to Ophis's room, forcing the door open and breaking the lock in the process. Ophis glared at the Dragon of Dreams before throwing a knitting needle at her, the needle impacted Great Red's eye and shattered on impact with no harm done to the Dragon of Dragons "-with all the noise going on"

Ophis silently cursed as that made eleven knitting needles before turning back to her work, looking through the open book on knitting to see if there was a fix for her problem "Go away Stupid, I don't have time to deal with you"

Great Red picked up the remnants of the destroyed needle before using a minuscule amount of power to destroy it entirely, not wanting broken needles laying around a home with small children, before looking to Ophis as she flipped through a book with a scarf on her desk "Ophis, is everything alright?"

"Why would you care?"

Letting out a sigh Great Red stepped into Ophis's room fully "Look, you and I have never really had much of a positive relationship. But if you need help with something I am willing to offer a hand" Great Red got a twinkle in her eyes "For a price, that is"

Ophis turned to Great Red suspicious, normally Ophis would never entertain the idea of making a deal with the Red Idiot but with the way things were going...

"And what exactly would this price be, little Red?"

Great Red and Ophis turned to see Maria standing outside the door looking over the two, Ophis hasily hid what she was working on with her snakes before using more snakes to cover the previous snakes with blankets while Great Red looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Nothing major, I swear!" Great Red said, feeling the pressure from Maria's stare "The price would be an incredible minor thing, nothing to write home about and all for a bit of fun" Maria's stare became more intense.

"Maria, I can handle the idiot"

Maria gave Ophis a concerned look before relenting "Very well, I'll be out in the hall helping to repair the holes Aoi's mother created. Satou and Kosho were able to clear up whatever misunderstanding threw her into a range" she turned to Great Red and looked at the Dragon of Dragons as if they were an unruly child "Name the price and what Ophis gains from it, if she doesn't go through with it accept it as her backing out. Otherwise, we're going to have words"

"Do you say that as Minato's Persona?" Great Red asked, sweat forming on her brow "Or..."

"I'll leave that to your imagination" Maria left the room, after waiting a few seconds Ophis went over to close the door as well as it could close after Great Red broke it.

Great Red shivered "How is it the Queen of Heaven can be that scary?"

"Talk idiot" Ophis turned to Great Red with her arms crossed over her chest.

Great Red settled her nerves before standing up straight to make their size difference more apparent "Well, the price for my helping hand is simple. I want us to share whatever Minato gets you and me for Christmas" Ophis's fists tightened "I doubt anyone's going to give me anything and I don't want to feel left out, so I want you to share whatever he gets you with me"

"Why Minato?" Ophis asked, doing her best to keep her power in check so as to not destroy her room or sink Japan.

Great Red rolled her eyes "Because~ He's the one you're having trouble getting a gift for"

"...Fine" Ophis said, defeated, raising a hand to shake Great Red's own to cement the deal. She was almost out of time and there was no telling if Maria, and by extension Minato, knew about the scarf already.

"Well, that was too easy" Great Red said, disappointed she couldn't get a rise out of the Infinite Dragon God '_It's really affecting her that badly, huh_' Great Red hid her wince, her plan to mess with Ophis becoming more malicious then she planned "Get him money"

Ophis looked to Great Red confused "Money, but" Ophis paused, considering her words "That's too, impersonal"

Great Red shrugged "Consider it at least, impersonal it may be but having more money could really help the guy out considering he's working multiple jobs already. That, and he can use it to buy something that catches his eyes later" Great Red looked to the side, scratching her cheek "At least, consider it. If only for a fall back plan"

After Great Red left the room Ophis stood for a minute before returning to the scarf, her snakes moving out of the way for her to look it over again. Looking over the scarf in her hands and looking at the clock only one thought passed through Ophis's mind, one she didn't want to go through with.

_'I need money'_

* * *

Walking through the front door Minato trudged forward, making sure to make as little noise as possible. The little adventure he had with The Guardians taking more out of him then he expected, if it wasn't facing Sandman and toon mind bending battles it was learning about the Guardians themselves.

Granted there was nothing wrong with the Guardians, he could offer support one at a time but having it all piled on his plate while trying to save the world at the same time was a bit much to ask. And that wasn't counting Yakko, Wakko and Dot joining in for their 'Holiday Special'

All he wanted to do was go to bed and get some sleep, something he wasn't going to get as he decided to join sleep on the coach.

"Oh my~ It seems like Santa brought us quite the gift this year~"

Minato didn't need to look to know who was talking "Kuroka, I'm too tired. Do whatever you want just leave me presentable for tomorrow" Minato mumbled into the cushion he was laying on. Feeling a blanket being put over him Minato accepted it without hesitation.

"While tempting any other time, you need your rest for tomorrow" Kuroka gave Minato a small kiss on the check "Goodnight, and Merry Christmas"

* * *

Christmas morning was a loud affair of the Arisato Residence, filled with laughter, christmas crackers and party poppers. While the urge to open the presents as soon as everyone got up they had already agreed beforehand to have Christmas dinner first before opening gifts, the Christmas dinner was a full feast where no stomach was left empty.

However, Ophis didn't eat much. Too nervous about the upcoming gift giving, she had put the scarf, MP3 and money together hoping to relieve some of her anxiety.

Ophis focused on the small box Minato handed to Great Red, the Dragon of Dragons looked at the little box surprised for a moment before accepting it.

"Keys?" Great Red looked at the keys in question before picking up one with a sleeping dragon keychain.

"There's a motorcycle outside for you" Minato said, adjusting the Santa hat Jaajaa and Nana made with Aoi that had 'best gift' stitched into the side "Nothing too fancy, but it's reliable, easy to repair and customize. I figured after what happened you wanted something to do tricks with until you are able to regain your dragon form"

Great Red looked at the keys again before giving Minato a toothy smile, throwing the key into the air before catching it mid-air "Thanks for thinking of me, bu-" Great Red looked to the side, doing her best to not let anyone see her face "I don't exactly know how to ride a bike"

Minato gave the Dragon of Dragons a grin "I'll teach you, don't worry. It'll be a bonding experience"

"You just want to see me fall over" Great Red said, feigning a hurt tone of voice "Though, I suppose you'd be one of the few who wouldn't laugh at such a scene"

Minato turned to Ophis to see the Dragon God shooting Great Red a pointed look, reaching into a large bag Minato pulled out a thick metal suitcase. The act gaining everyone's attention as Minato opened the case to remove what looked like a phone, he held it out for Ophis to take which the Dragon God did as she looked at the device confused, looking closer Ophis saw that on the screen were the word 'Default' "I needed to get a lot of help from a certain someone to get you that, try it out" Quickly turning to everyone with a reassuring smile "Don't worry, everything will be fine. It's perfectly safe"

"Minato" Bennia said with a concerned look as she kept her eyes on the unknown device in Ophis's hands "We weren't worried before, but we are now"

Curious Ophis pressed the button and felt herself beginning to float, her surroundings become a swirling mix of iridescent colours. Looking she saw a place she hadn't seen in a long time, the Dimensional Gap with everyone with her.

Ophis's eyes widened in shock as she used her snakes to protect everyone from the 'nothingness' of the Dimensional Gap, before anyone could realize where they were each already had one of Ophis's snakes protecting them.

Seeing everyone was safe Ophis took a moment to catch her breath and when she did she noticed something was off, she wasn't sure what exactly but something about the place they were didn't quite feel like the Dimensional Gap.

"A Device able to replicate the Dimensional Gap without the harmful elements, I couldn't help you reclaim the Dimensional Gap you remembered so this seemed like the next best thing" Minato explained, Ophis pushed the same button again causing the room to revert back to normal.

Ophis looked around the room to gauge the reaction of the others, only to see them all smiling. This threw Ophis for a loop for a moment before arriving at the most straightforward answer "You all knew about this gift ahead of time"

Satou nodded "Senpai told us about it ahead of time so we wouldn't panic, though seeing it in action was something else entirely"

"I think Jaajaa and Nana liked the Dimensional Gap's colours" Aoi said as she looked down at the twins to see them pouting with the swirling colours of the replicated Dimensional Gap gone.

Satou's Aunt, Kosho, looked under the tree and around the room searching for something "Hmm, are all the presents opened already?"

"Nope!" Great Red said, appearing behind Ophis to push the smaller Dragon God forward towards Minato "Ophis still has one last gift to give~!" Great Red bent down to whisper into Ophis's ear "You can do it"

Ophis, The Infinite Dragon God, froze as Minato looked to her. She could feel her heart race and her legs begin to shake, sensations she never knew in her long life but became all too familiar with since she started spending time with Minato. Feeling her face heat up Ophis looked down as she presented the gift, not looking as Minato accepted and opened the gift.

"Are these Diamonds?" Minato asked, Ophis looked up to see he was already wearing the scarf with it wrapped around his neck with the MP3 and headphones held gentle in his hands. His eyes wide with shock and confusion at the collection of fist size diamonds amounting roughly to nine hundred million yen (ten million US).

Ophis nodded "Yeah, I hoarded some things over the years to entice more materialistic beings to my cause of beating the idiot" everyone turned to Ophis and away from the diamonds, the christmas lights giving them a warm glow "I, don't need them anymore. I'm giving them to you, in case the other things weren't enough" Ophis said in a soft voice.

"I love the scarf and MP3 player" Minato replied with a smile. Those simple words were music to Ophis's ears, her nervousness fading as a burden was lifted from her heart "I can tell you put a lot of thought into these gifts, and that is enough to make them perfect"

The two shared a hug, a tender moment between two souls that had found a home with each other in a world not their own.

_Later that night_

Aoi yawned as Jaajaa and Nana slept in their crib, falling asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, a piece of paper fell from her hands to drifted to land close to the slightly opened door. When Ophis went to check in on Aoi and her little nieces she saw the piece of paper on the floor, picking it up Ophis saw it was a list with several things checked off.

Reading the only thing left unchecked on the list Ophis took it to Minato to explain something to her, finding him playing with Bridget in the living room as he laid on the couch she showed him the list "What's this, Aoi's list?"

Some time after Jaajaa and Nana were hatched she put together a list of 'Family Firsts' that she felt had to be perfect, everything was checked off except for one near the bottom of the page. First Birthday(?). There was some discussion on when Jaajaa and Nana's birthday was, was it when Aoi laid their eggs or when they hatched, a literally question of which came first the dragon or the egg before they landed on when Jaajaa and Nana hatched.

"Looks like all that's left on Aoi list is Jaajaa and Nana's first birthday" Minato said to himself as he turned to Ophis, wondering why she brought him Aoi's list of firsts.

"What are Birthdays?" Ophis asked Minato, she frowned as she saw Minato raise a questioning eyebrow "I've only heard the term before, never gave it much thought as to what it was about"

"What are birthdays" Minato repeated, never really expecting he needed to explain something like that to Ophis. Though, thinking about it, it's not unbelievable with her fixation on defeating Great Red "It's a celebration of someone's birth, it can be either someone still living for a celebration of another year to their life or celebrating them after their death"

Ophis looked around the room at all the decoration hanging around the room they had used in the celebration of Christmas, seeing this Minato answered Ophis's unanswered question "Birthday celebrations for the living varies greatly, from decorating an entire home to a much more simple affair, though the giving of gifts to the one being celebrated is common. For the dead, it usually celebrates something great they did with a possible holiday made for them in specific regions" As he was explaining the concepts of birthdays to Ophis he realized something "Actually, when is your birthday?"

Ophis tilted her head(?) as she considered the question "Don't know. Can't track time in the Dimensional Gap and I never concerned myself with such things as birthdays" Ophis tapped her chin with a finger as she looked upwards "I can't even tell when I left the Dimensional Gap"

"Hmm, when do you want your birthday to be?" Minato asked Ophis, surprising the Infinite Dragon God with his question "You can pick whatever day you want"

"Why?" Ophis wasn't sure why Minato wanted to her to pick a date for birthday, in the back of her head she had an idea but she wanted to hear Minato's reasoning.

A smile greeted her as Minato answered "Well, people tend to throw birthday parties for the important people in their lives and your very important to all of us and to me. So having a day of the year were we celebrate you coming into our lives doesn't sound too bad"

Ophis silent hoped the lights of the Christmas tree hid her blushing, not taking any chances she decided to snuggle up to Minato to try and hide her blush "That, sounds nice. As for gifts, I already have everything I ever had wanted and things I never knew I wanted or need" she could feel her heart beating fast again, however unlike last time when she was giving Minato his gift this beating feel far more pleasant "All I want, is to spent the day with you"

Minato hugged Ophis closer "In that case, I'm all yours for the day"

After some discussion on picking the right day to celebrate Ophis birthday they landed on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the end of the year and the beginning of the next. However, Ophis's birthday was a little different than how others marked theirs in that Ophis's Birthday begins on December 31st on 12pm and ended on January 1st at 12pm. A day that held both the beginning and end of the calendar seemed appropriate for the Ouroboros dragon, a creature described as eating it's own tail.

However, things did not go quite to plan.

* * *

Days later, on New Year's Eve.

* * *

Minato drank deep from his coffee mug, he was planning to sleep in till noon with Ophis so they could spend her birthday together when a loud series of knocks coming from the front door woke up everyone in the house. Opening the door he was greeted with the sight of a man holding a tome trying to get a group of teenagers under control, normally Minato would have assumed they were door to door carolers looking for donations but, looking at them Minato could feel a familiarity with them all as if they all shared a bond he didn't know about.

His pondering was cut short as a set of twins ran to hug him ""Papa!"" In that moment only two thoughts were on Minato's mind, why were this girls calling him papa and why did they look so much like Aoi?

Nearly an hour later, he got an answer.

"Okay, you and the kids are from the future" Minato asked the man who tried and failed to stop the children from coming to the Arisato Residence.

Woz bowed his head in shame "I beg your forgiveness my lord, but the Princes and Princesses were insistent on coming here" Minato and Woz looked to the living room to see the children interacting with their mothers.

Aoi was having the easiest time adjusting to the situation, dotting on the future versions of Jaajaa and Nana while the present day babies were in her arms.

Kiyome wasted little time on quizzing her alleged son from the future, only answering her correctly did she consider the possibility he was her future son.

Satou was cuddling her future daughter with the brightest smile Minato had ever seen on her, next to them Kosho was talking to her son about his reasoning for a brawler wearing fake bandages.

Xenovia was asking questions about the future but her daughter was keeping tight-lipped on everything except for training regiments.

Valerie was caught between her twin idol daughters as she was caught in their group hug.

Bennia was either discussing previous pranks or doing hero poses with her future son, Minato had to do a double take due to how closely his and Bennia's future son looked like Ryoji.

Kuroka was beside herself with joy as she showered her future triplets with attention, and going by their purring they were loving it.

Ophis was glaring at Minato, her future son doing his best to calm his angry mother with sweets with some success. Great Red had passed out when her son showed himself, that piece of information being too much for the Dragon of Dragons and the reasoning for Ophis's glare.

Looking back to face Woz Minato drank all of his coffee in one go, using healing magic to undo the burns the hot coffee caused his throat, "Okay, what brings back to our time Woz? I can't imagine time travel being a common holiday plan"

Woz gave Minato a curious look "Do you truly? May I ask why, having a stranger arriving at your doorstep proclaiming himself as your most loyal follower with your future children in tow isn't something people could easily accept"

"I'm not sure how to put it into words" looking up to the ceiling for a moment as he collected his thoughts, feeling a strange sense of Deja vu with the talk of time travel, Mianto lowered his head to look at Woz in the eyes "I feel a connection with you and the kids, not sure how it came to be but I know it is genuine"

Woz was silent for a moment before tears of happiness began rolling down his cheeks. When everyone was caught up they sent out to find the anomaly that was causing the future the kids came from to implode in on itself, it didn't take too long as they came across a group trying to kill Minato who also claimed to come from the future.

Woz looked over the group with a weary eye "I see, the children of the Welsh Dragon Emperor from another timeline have found themselves in our own. Believing you my lord are the anomaly that needs to be erased to restore the timeline" his eyes narrowed as he opened his tome "We should best disciple them"

Minato shook his head "No, this whole thing is a misunderstanding. Besides, their not exactly wrong about me being an anomaly" Minato took out his phone and began searching through his contacts "Besides, a simpler path remains open to us"

"Your calling the Breast Emperor?" Great Red asked, recovering from her earlier fainting spell and was beginning to bond with her son over bikes.

Minato blinked in realization "Huh, not a bad idea. Kuroka, could you call your sister to get Issei and his group over here. We might need the extra hands"

Ophis leapt up onto Minato's shoulders "Who are you calling?"

"The person who made the Dimensional Gap replicator" As the phone rang Minato spoke to the person on the other end as soon as they answered "God, it's me. Yeah, mostly doing good. Except for time traveling children trying to kill me, I know your still recovering but do you think you could lend us a hand for a minute" Minato was silent as God spoke on the other end "Wonderful, see you soon"

"To call upon the creator himself to deal with irrational children" Woz looked to Minato in awe "Truly, none are greater than you my lord!"

Minato gave Woz a tired look "Did future me say anything about you praising him or me?"

"Not in public and kept to a minimal" Woz answered with a smile, he opened his tome to read something as it began to glow.

Looking to his future children for a moment, a storm of emotions within him with a notable one being joyous celebration, Minato adjusted his head to look at Ophis to see her deep in thought as she looked at Makoto and Great Red. He was about to apologize for the changes to the day plan when Ophis spoke up.

"Remember when I said all I wanted was to spend the day with you, I want something else now" Ophis tightened her grip on Minato, showing her possessive side for him "I want more eggs then Great Red"

Ophis's words drew everyone's attention to her and Minato, Woz looked up from his book for a moment while the children from the future looked embarrassed with Yuuki and Makoto holding their heads in their hands.

"W-Well" Minato began to say, unsure how to proceed forward "I suppose in the future-"

"I want them _now_"

"Cool off you snake!" Great Red latched onto Minato's free arm, pressing it into her chest "Think about us, you being greedy might erase my Makoto! I may never have considered being a parent at all in my long life before but I like my potential kid, and if I'm going to have kids with anyone it might as well be with someone who doesn't laugh when I crash head first through a tree" Ophis and Great Red glared at one another, neither giving ground as Minato became ensnared by the Dragons of Infinite and Illusion.

"Who's going to tell them the timeline will correct itself so long as we kick the invaders out and don't kill anyone?" Asahi asked aloud, stopping his mother and cousin from joining in on the fight for Minato, he looked around his siblings to see them all looking at the scene with various expressions of embarrassment with his little half sister/cousin Shio hiding behind him.

"I'll do it if I can tell them Makoto and Yuuki are technically twins due to being born on the same day~" Ryuji offered with a grin, he put pointed a thumb to the fighting Infinite Dragon and True Dragon with Minato caught in the middle "Besides, this is hardly different from when Mama Ophis and Mama Red bullied each other in our time"

"The difference Nya" "Is that in this time nya" "They haven't had the same experiences as ours Nya" the Nekoshou triplets said together.

"Be ready, they draw near!" Woz said as a group of people with Issei and the Occult Research Club trailing behind them "The ultimate battle begins now!"

* * *

Extra stuff that in retrospect served little purpose and bloated the chapter.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry we dragged you into this" a tied up Santa Claus said as he hung upside down along with Minato and the Easter Bunny, beside them hung the Tooth Fairy in a cage. The servants of the Sandman, old cartoon characters brought into reality, sung and danced around along with their master as they explained their plans.

Minato looked to Santa for a moment before turning back to the dancing toons "It's fine, certainly better than the last Christmas were me and my friends needed to save the world"

"I don't suppose there were any similarities to this?" The Tooth Fairy asked, looking around nervously for a way out.

Minato looked around the frozen tundra they were in "Well, there were certainly no musical numbers. And no tower of doom with this one"

The toons were reaching the crescendo of their song "-return this world to grey, welcome to our gospel of dismay!" as their song ended the earth shook as a tower born of the dreams and nightmares of humanity rose into the air.

"You wouldn't happen to mean that doom tower" The Easter Rabbit said, wiggling as if he was searching for something in his pockets.

Sandman approached the Guardians, it's golden and black features shifting as half lidded eyes looked over the captured heroes "I am on the verge of attaining victory, my old friends. It's not too late, join me and you'll rule along with me as new gods" Sandman gave Minato a side glance "You fought bravely, young messiah. I extend the same offer to you, as it would help establishing ourselves as a new Pantheon"

Santa Claus laughed, a loud hearty laugh before looking at Sandman with a smile "Counter offer, you stop this now and we put all this behind us. It's not too late Sandy" Santa Claus's smile didn't reach his eyes "Please, don't do this Sandy"

"What other choice do I have?" Sandman said grimly "If I don't do this someone foul entity may attempt to take the Great Red's position of power over Illusions, this is something that I must do Nicklaus"

"If this is something you must do, then WE must do what we must" Santa Claus offered his old friend a sad smile "Have you forgotten, Sandman" the sound of chains could be heard as arrows rained down on the toons "Santa never rides alone"

Krampus let out a bestial roar and charged as Cupid fired their arrows, the distraction being enough for Easter Bunny to use an egg shaped device to cut them out of their bindings.

Minato summoned forth Jack Frost and Pyro Jack to distract Sandman's toon servants with slapstick and comedy, as he did Minato saw through the eyes of his already summoned Personas.

Good news, the others were safe.

Bad News, his 'mother in law' was visiting and she was furious.

* * *

"Again, I'm really sorry" Sandman said, nursing his bruised eye. He sat in Santa's sleight with the Guardians as they began delivering presents to the children of the world, his 'manic episode' setting Santa Claus's time table back significantly.

Santa gave his friend a toothy grin as he had a glowing candy cane between his teeth "Ah, all in the past" "It was ten minutes ago" "What matters is delivering presents and giving to those in need, not to mention we may have come across someone to help us with our duties. Speaking of which, how is the young man holding up?"

Using his sand Sandman condensed it into a glass ball that glowed with power, with the light the ball showed Minato helping Santa deliver presents by summoning a Persona of Santa Claus with his sleigh and reindeer. For a moment everything seemed fine but looking closer Sandman saw something concerning, not hearing anything from Sandman Santa looked over to see what was happening "Ah, I see some of your cartoons are still in our realm"

Three anthropomorphic black dog cartoon characters with bright red noses were riding with Minato, they were helping in their own way. Though how much an impromptu musical number about Christmas was debatable.

"Their your toons, why did you summon the Warner Bros and the Warner Sister?" Sandman countered, looking down to see the Warner Siblings being strangely well behaved and seemed to be helping with delivering gifts.

Santa laughed "Like so many other lives are brought into this world, it was the heat of the moment"

[Surprise Warner visit]

The two shared a hug, a tender moment between two souls that had found a home with each other, ruined by what was hiding under Minato's clothes.

"""Ah~!"""

From beneath Minato's Santa hat appeared the Warner siblings, they leapt out from under Minato's hat to land by the fireplace.

"I thought you three went home!" Minato asked, shocked to see the Warners still in their reality.

Yakko crossed his arms "What, and miss the emotional climax? That's no way to end a story"

"Though I'm concerned about the type of show we're in" Dot looked to the reader "Well, fanfic anyway"

"Argh, we missed dinner!" Wakko lamented as he saw the table cleaned of food, Wakko fell to his knees and wept "We overslept!"

Everyone present was dumbfounded by the arrival of cartoon characters, before they were able to react to them properly sand exploded from the fireplace and wrapped the three cartoons in nets of sand. An argument could be heard up on the roof with snippets of the argument filtering down the chimney, from what Minato could make out it sounded like Sandman and Santa.

"That's our cue. That's all folks, now let's get out of here before we genre drift into whatever suspect thing this is" Dot said as she pointed a thumb towards everyone around the Christmas tree, Dot looked to her hand to see it had gone from four fingers to five, pulling out a mirror from nowhere she saw her eyes had gone from simple black dots to expressive anime eyes. Dot screamed in terror, her brothers looking on in shock for a moment as they themselves underwent similar transformations.

Yakko kissed the palm of his hand before waving goodbye "Good Night everybody!" the Warners were pulled up through the chimney before Sandman unceremoniously threw them back into their reality.

Looking outside everyone saw a sleigh riding through the sky "Ho Ho Ho! See you next year!"

Staring out the window for a solid minute, Valerie turned to everyone else "What was that?"

"""High level use of Illusion""" Great Red, Minato and Ophis answered together.

Sighing, Minato hoped nothing else would happen until New Years so that they could end this year without incident. Still, this was turning out to be his best Christmas he could remember.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**For a running score of crossovers added in this particular chapter, some just added for fun and will NOT being showing up again, besides what the main crossover is [SMT Persona 3 & High School DxD] and much smaller crossover added in [Happy Sugar Life characters]. Added in series:**

**-Aoi, Jaajaa and Nana from [I got a wife and twin daughters, but their dragons] added in mostly due to how people seemed to like them in the previous chapter Omake that ended up being longer then the real chapter.**

**-The Guardians, from the Rise of the Guardians. Didn't plan a part bigger then keeping Minato messy for a couple hours or so while Ophis worked on getting a gift.**

**-Bendy and the Ink machine charachers along with the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister being summoned minions.**

**One internet cookie to whoever gets the 12 Terabytes of porn reference.**

**For those curious at how much 12 terabytes is, it's roughly 3.000.000 Photos or 6.000 hours of HD video.**

**To finish off what happens with the kids, they fight a little with some heated moments between Xenovia and Kuroka's kids. Realizing their in the wrong timeline the EX kids go back to their time with some of our heroes to kick Loki and his alien lackey's asses.**

**Happy Holidays everyone, now to go over some things that people may ask and answering things left in reviews.**

**First, let me say I am happy to see you loved Mama Dragon Aoi and Dragon baby twins Jaajaa and Nana. I still haven't decided if I should add them into the main story of Messiah X Dragon but if they are it won't be for a while. Whereas Satou and her Aunt were easy enough to slot in a single mother dragon and her newborn twins will need a bit more work especially with them developing a connection with Minato. What I'm saying is it will be a couple of chapters before they can be integrated with some ground being retrended but hopefully enough new stuff so it's not a copy and paste job.**

**As for what I have planned for Diodora's former Peerage [who three of have been named already] it will be touched on in the next chapter. The truth is, what I have planned for them is half the reason I made MessiahXDragon a series of snippets instead of a series of unrelated things with MinatoXOphis so I won't say anymore and risk spoiling it.**

**When I give Gamer!Keyblade!Minato it's own story I won't be making the same mistakes as I did with 'Everyday Gamer' as in having half the screen being skills and stat screens, spitballing ideas for a title at the minute so you could suggest possible names or Companions to join Minato on his new journey. May or may not act as a continuation of a variation of MinatoXOphis.**

**Surprised**** no one mentioned the binary code message when Gamer!Issei used Observed on Minato. To save you the time it reads "I see you"**

**Yes, Minato and those staying with him celebrated Hanukkah which was took place on December 1st to December 9th. Hanukkah is marked on a Lunar calendar instead of the solar calendar so it can land on different days throughout the years.**

**Why is Great Red there? Seemed like a fun idea and I have a what if Omake in the back of my head where it's Great Red approaching Minato instead of Ophis, that and a love triangle with Ophis and Great Red isn't something I've seen before. So... Great Red x Minato x Ophis?**

**Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy are pretty much a mixture of The Guardians movie and book counterparts, minus the alien backgrounds. Also, Sandman and Nightmare King were fused together to create this version of Sandman. Odin was brought in to introduce The Guardians to Minato, while drinking heavily due to past experience with the Guardians.**

**For those that didn't catch the reference, Sandman summoned the Bendy and the Ink machine characters to act as his servants and Santa brought in his own toons to help them which is where the Animaniacs came in.**

**Aoi's mother didn't really have any plans for beyond "Misunderstanding about the place Aoi was living at and Minato as a person, sees Infinite Dragon God Knitting in another room"**

**Maria is caring, loving and dislikes violence, but that mama is carrying enough power to bitch slap gods and get away with it.**

**Since to my knowledge we never got a good idea on what exactly Great Red can do I decided to make their power a form of reality warping, like how a lucid dreamer could control their dreams.**

**Minato worked with God of the Bible to create the Dimensional Gap replication device.**

**As for New Years, a expy of Kamen Rider Zi-O Woz came back in time to restore the timeline after Issei's time traveling kids landed in the wrong timeline.**

**What are the kids names?**

**Minato + Aoi = Jaajaa and Nana**

**Minato + Ophis = Yuuki**

**Minato + Great Red = Makoto**

**Minato + Kiyome = Raidou**

**Minato + Satou = Shio**

**Minato + Kosho(Satou's Aunt) = Asahi**

**Minato + Xenovia = Zen**

**Minato + Valerie Tepes = Sera and Integra**

**Minato + Bennia = Ryuji**

**Minato + Kuroka = Kurobara, Ai and Chika**

**Issei's future children, for those who haven't heard of Highschool EX, a novel written and sold with the Blu-ray of Highschool DxD BoRN.**

**Issei + Rias = Ex Gremory**

**Issei + Akeno = Kurenai Himejima**

**Issei + Xenovia = Zen Quarta**

**Issei + Koneko = Shirayuki**

**Issei + Kuroka = Kurobara**

**Issei + Asia = Airi Hyoudou**

**Issei + Irina = Shin Shidou**

**Issei + Ravel = Robertina Hyoudou**

**Issei + Rossweisse = Helmwige**

**Issei + Elmenhilde Karnstein = Ernestine Karnstein**

**Issei + Le Fay = Mordred Hyoudou**

**To those reading this I wish the best for you, it's a hard time for everyone this year and I hope these snippets bring you some enjoyment.**

**Happy Holidays with love.**


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